Everyone started at City Park for work project assignments, the weather was clear, sunny and we all had a fun time!

City Park
Twenty-three volunteers signed in and worked on various projects on Sat. Feb. 13th starting at 8:30AM.

The people working on projects in City Park included Dave DeOme, Pat McDermott, Jerry Cooper and George Blume who built rock erosion control fences, removed cedar saplings and spread mulch in the Garden across from Katherine's Corner.

Cindy Berdan, Mireille Kirmse and Wayne and Kathie King worked in the Barnes Garden spreading mulch and maintenance in the Butterfly Garden.
submitted by Bill Freas, George Blume and Cindy Berdan

HGB I
Another group formed at the upper parking lot and traveled to the Hamilton Greenbelt I entrance. Katie Fanker, Brian Fanker, Bob McHugh, George Ferrie, Gene Bosse and Bernie Reding worked on HGB 1 removing cedar saplings, trimming low hanging cedar branches and planted two bald cypress trees along Hurst creek.
submitted by Bernie Reding

HGB primitive trails
Two small groups fanned out to the primitive trail section of the Hamilton Greenbelt. Lamar Bolling, Mike Sekel and Michael Smith worked on our new trail on the east side of Hurst Hollow, just below Clubhouse and the MUD facility. We removed some cedar trees that were crowding the trail, or nearly obstructing the scenic view on the trail. Bolling used a pick to address muddy and eroding spots along the entire Meadow loop. Sekel used loppers to remove any branches that were becoming a nuisance. Smith used the chainsaw to clear cedar trees and bigger limbs along the trail and helped Bolling rake and reinforce some of the muddy and eroding spots.

The second group installed drainage pipe at the site of several water seeps on the downhill portion of the trail head at Squires Court. Bill Freas, Ernest Altgelt and Jim Dunn dug several trenches, put in pea gravel and drainage pipe in the trenches and recovered with soil and mulch.
submitted by Michael Smith and Jim Dunn

At the conclusion of the morning activities we all gathered at the Pavilion and enjoyed a hot bowl of chili and cookies and brownies prepared by Lorraine and her crew of volunteers.

For workday photos, click here.

Thanks to the City of Lakeway for providing a Ranger pickup and pea gravel.

The annual meeting was a great success. Thanks everyone for your participation, especially Mickey for arranging the good BBQ and George for the entertaining guest speaker.According to the sign-in sheet, with my addition of 5 folks who forgot to sign, we had 48 attendees, including our 2 quest, Devin & Roger and 4 other folks.

Notes

On Monday Jan 25th the Annual Business meeting was held at the Lakeway Activity Center. The meeting started with a hearty serving of food catered by Rudy's BBQ. George Ferrie, the out-going Chair called the meeting to order, Bill Freas gave the minutes of last year's meeting and Bernie Reding gave the treasurer's report. George reported on the "State of the FOP 2009" with photos. Bob Underwood and Lamar Bolling were recognized as volunteers who helped out on non-workdays on FOP projects at City Park and the greenbelts.

A new board member, Pat McDermott was elected and a new slate of officers were approved. The HGB Overlook project overview was given and the membership voted approval of $2000 budget for construction. The 2010-2011 FOP Board members are
Bill Freas - Chair
Cindy Berdan - Vice Chair
George Blume - Secretary
Bernie Reding - Treasurer
Pat McDermott - Director
Michael Smith - Director
Lorraine Tallent - Director
Jim Dunn - Director
George Ferrie - Past Chair

Then the guest speaker Roger Johnson, Senior Travis County Park Ranger, spoke on the neighboring Balcones Canyonlands Preserve and several local archaeological points of interest. A full write-up can be found on page 3A of the Lake Travis View, Jan 28, 2010 edition. Or visit the Lake Travis View FOP BC Preserve article online.

Roger Johnson is a Senior Travis County Park Ranger, a Patrol Deputy with the Travis County Sheriff's Office, a Master Peace Officer for the State of Texas, an Emergency Medical Technician-B w ith the Austin/Travis County EMS, a Certified Marine Safety Officer, and a member of the Texas Archaeological Steward Network with the Texas Historical Commission. From 2002-2008, he was assigned to the Travis County Balcones Canyonlands Preserve as a Law Enforcement Specialist and Cultural Resources Investigator. Mr. Johnson graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a BA in Anthropology, with a concentration in North American Archaeology.

Photos of the meeting, Click here