Two events are planned in Middle Tennessee for National Public Lands Days, Saturday Sept 24th.<br>
<br>
YANAHLI WILDLIFE REFUGE <br>
<br>
A figure eight loop trail will be completed at Yanahli Wildlife Refuge
near Columbia, TN, as area residents and volunteers join the largest
annual coast-to-coast, single-day volunteer restoration effort for
America's public lands.<br>
<br>
Local volunteers from Tennessee Trails Association (TTA) will roll up
their sleeves and devote their day to trail building at Yanahli as part
of the 12th annual National Public Lands Day (NPLD) on Saturday,
September 24. Sponsored for the seventh consecutive year by Toyota
Motor Sales, USA, the event gives Americans an annual chance to give
back to the very lands they use to hike, bike, climb, swim, explore,
picnic or just plain relax.<br>
<br>
Fount Bertram, TTA President, encourages both current and prospective
TTA members to join him for trail building from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
including a short break at noon for lunch, a dedication ceremony and a
short hike. Plans are to meet at the BP station just off I-65 at
the Columbia exit (Highways 99 and 412). "We will provide tools,
but if you have your own, bring them", says Bertram. Volunteers
should also bring lunch, lots of water, gloves, snacks, insect
repellant and sunblock. Bertram will give full-size NPLD posters
and TTA handbooks to the first 40 registrants. <br>
<br>
>From building a footbridge along the Continental Divide National Scenic
Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park, to helping preserve the National
Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, as many as
90,000 Americans are expected at 650 sites for NPLD in 2005, preserving
and protecting their favorite public places for themselves and future
generations.<br>
<br>
For the second year in a row, volunteers who work at a site managed by
any of five federal agencies will be rewarded with a pass good for free
entry any day during the next year at public land sites managed by
those agencies: Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and USDA
Forest Service.<br>
<br>
By educating volunteers at sites across the country, NPLD maintains the
legacy of the Civilian Conservation Corps, an army of 3 million
Americans who in the 1930's countered the devastation of the Dust Bowl
and the American chestnut blight by planting more than 3 billion trees,
building 800 state parks, and fighting forest fires. <br>
<br>
For more information, contact Fount Bertram at 615-765-5357 or via e-mail at <a href="mailto:fwbertram@heartoftn.net" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">fwbertram@heartoftn.net</a><br>
<br>
<br>
NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY<br>
<br>
Ranger T. J. Jackson of the Natchez Trace Parkway is planning a work
day on the Garrison Creek trail on the NTP. Also Sept 24th,
at 7:00 AM, please bring hand loppers if you have them. For more
information, please call Ranger Jackson at 790-9323.<br>
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NASHVILLE CHAPTER MONTHLY MEETING<br>
<br>
Also, the Nashville Chapter meeting place for September only has been changed. It's at the <span name="st">Holeman</span>
Building conference room at 7:00PM on Tuesday, Sept 27th. This is still
on the Ellington Ag Center campus, up the hill from the normal meeting
location. Signs will show the way. In October, the meeting
will be back at the normal place. Questions, call Jim at
615.356.6246. On the night of the meeting call 615.300.3002.<br>
<br>
For a map and better directions see:<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.state.tn.us/agriculture/administ/eac2.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://www.state.tn.us/agricul</a><a href="http://www.state.tn.us/agriculture/administ/eac2.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
ture/administ/eac2.html</a><br>
<br>
Thanks for your attention, and hope to see many of you on NPLD.<br>
<span class="sg">
<br>
Jim</span>