The Park is currently working on solutions for hiking trails, eroded and damaged by spring flooding rains and weakened infrastructure.
Since its founding, the Friends have constructed an easy access Friends trail( soon to be ADA accessible); installed a view / fishing dock at Ogle Lake, helped fund Go Bike Beginner Mountain Bike workshop; installed Mason Bee houses; restored original West Gate log building; purchased trail cameras; and provided new wheelbarrows for the Horsemen’ s Campground. Our major fund-raisers are an annual mushroom sale( now collaborating with the Brown County Community Foundation), annual native plant sale, and Halloween in the Hills event. The latter is a family-friendly early evening event which takes place along an easy trail, featuring costumed intruders and numerous candy stations.
A group of avid gardeners, the Friends plant all the gardens associated with the Nature Center and gatehouses. Plans for restoration of the front of the Nature Center building, where new sewer lines were recently installed, are in the making. Other current projects include the upcoming installation of outdoor pickle ball courts; the establishment of a hummingbird garden complete with outdoor rocking chairs for relaxed enjoyment; and the proposed restoration of Peachtree Shelter, a log building
on Trail 10 originally constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
Repairs to this historical structure, along with the possible re-establishment of an enchanting overlook, are much needed and a wonderful opportunity to preserve a piece of our history. During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the Civilian Conservation Corps, young men who were paid to implement conservation projects and construct facilities in the fledgling state parks. Along with major stone trail infrastructure, several log shelters with shake shingle roofs, including Peachtree, were constructed. It is the only shelter with exclusively hiking access, about a quarter of a mile from car parking.
Friends of Brown County State Park is open to all for membership and meets the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 either in the Nature Center or in the adjacent Friends shelter house, depending on the weather. An informal pitch-in precedes the meeting at 6:00.
Patrick Haulter, assistant property manager of Brown County State Park, sang the praises of the alliance.“ The Friends are kind of the emotional side of the Park— a group of kindred spirits with a lot of positive energy. They always make me want to do my job better.”
Come check us out! Look us up on Facebook or < friendsbcsp. org >. •
Nov./ Dec. 2023 • Our Brown County 25