Friends of Rotary Park

This is a service provided to the users of Rotary Park in Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. It is hosted by Friends of Rotary Park, a newly formed volunteer group that is dilligently working to improve the trail network at the park. This site provides information about current, past, and future trail development.

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Rotary Park is a county-owned natural park in Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee. It consists of two adjoining tracts of land that make up about 95 acres of mostly undeveloped, wooded land. There is one park entrance/exit that is paved and runs to the back of the park. There are three pavilions along the roadway with the largest being at the road's end. Rotary Park has an extensive trail network and is open to hikers and bikers. The new push for extensive trail work is necessary because most trails were improperly built by ATVs and motorcycles. Motorized vehicles are now banned from the park. Furthermore, the trails are showing signs of serious erosion. Most recently, a large amount of sustainable trail located outside of the park's boundary has been taken by development. The Friends of Rotary Park is dedicated to restoring and improving the park. Those interested in joining Friends of Rotary Park can do so by contacting Chris Clark at 931-801-3898. Dues are $25.00 for a family membership.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Workday - April 15th

Dear Friends:

I am proud to announce that we have a workday scheduled for Saturday, April 15th at 8:00 a.m. at Rotary Park. This will be the first official workday since the tornado. Our agenda is as follows: re-route the trail through the TVA easement at the font of the park and close unauthorized/old trails. The reroute has already been cleared and is prepared for benching and stump removal. Everyone willing to swing a pick, pull a hoe, or tamp the trail tread will be asked to help with the benching of the new trail. This is a very labor-intensive project but will make for a smooth, scenic trail when completed. Everyone else will be asked to help close off old trails by completely covering them with branches, limbs, leaves, rocks, or whatever natural debris can be found to hide the old trail. With the establishment of the new, properly built trails, it is important that the old, erosion prone trails disappear. If people continue to use those trails, then the erosion problem will never be solved.

Also, since the tornado, people have been illegally using the park and making new, unauthorized trails around the damaged areas. These trails also need to be closed as they are not built to the proper standards and/or are not part of the master plan approved by the county. At least one of these trails exists in the area where we will be working. We will work on closing any of these trails found in the front, left-hand side of the park.

This promises to be a fun and productive workday. If you come, don't forget to bring gloves and plenty of water. If you have any picks, rakes, hoes, tampers, etc., please bring them as well. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Also, the projected date for the park to re-open has been pushed back to June. This is due to the extra time needed by the company hired by the county to properly clear the extensive damage caused by the tornado. I just can't wait for everyone to see the newly improved areas of the park upon it being reopened.

Thanks,

Chris

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I didn't know what the hold up was so I took a quick look on 10 June 2006 to see what's up. It looks to me like you guys are gearing the trails for AT bike use. I saw how you incorporated logs into jumps. I walk my dog out there and I think that's bs. Also the switch-backs you made in a lot of places are going to erode just as bad as some of the old ones. Just wait and see. I didn't know the park was still closed as I went in the back way.

8:51 PM  

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