One of the services our volunteer organization provides to trail users and fans is the hotline. Throughout the length of the trail are signs that encourage users to call the hotline number to report problems, describe issues, or request information about the trail. Currently, there are three hotline volunteers who receive these calls (and texts) and attempt to respond to them. We try to address the issue (by, for example, sending out the chainsaw team) as soon as possible, usually in a day or two, and to let users know if the problem has been addressed. Spring and summer are of course the busiest times, and it’s usually predictable that if there’s been a big windstorm, the hotline will get lots of calls.

Probably 90% of the calls are about fallen trees or branches blocking the trail. When reporting problems, trail users are encouraged to include a photo, the closest Mile Marker, cross street, or other identifiable landmark. People also ask about where restrooms are, or report problems with malfunctions. They may ask about stops along the way, places to stay, or help with planning a long bike trip along the trail. We sometimes get reports about problems with dead or injured wildlife and occasionally wild and unruly humans riding motorcycles or four wheelers on the trail.

One caller asked if she could temporarily move one of our trail signs while her film crew shot a movie scene. Another asked how to donate a memorial bench in honor of a friend who had recently died. One rider wanted to know exactly how long the trail is. One trail user, who happens to work at the zoo, noticed a fallen hickory tree, and wondered if they could fill their truck with the hickory nuts to feed their elephants. And sometimes people ask us to resolve safety problems at busy crossings—things we would like to help with, but can’t always do.

Sometimes hotline calls at 7 AM are inconvenient, but our experience is that it’s a pleasure to support the trail and its community of users, and they are almost universally grateful and appreciative.

by Holly King
May 2020

Trail Mail Quiz Answer: The hotline has not (yet) received a report of a raccoon stealing keys from a baby stroller.

Last year was an exciting and very active year for the Friends of the Little Miami State Park. Over the course of 2019, the Friends organization expended over $51,000 for trail maintenance, improvements, and special events and activities for the trail users.

For the organization’s primary activity of Trail Care and Maintenance, we expensed over $21,300. These funds supported multiple volunteer-staffed programs up and down the trail including:

• Providing portable restrooms at 7 locations between Spring Valley to Miamiville to ensure year-round restroom availability. 
• Our year-round Trail Blowing program staffed by volunteers who drive our two trail blowers up and down the trail to remove leaves and tree debris from the trail.
• Maintenance and repair of the trail surface, fences, and trail signage, and vegetation control. This includes purchase and maintenance of the tools and supplies used by our volunteers to work on and maintain the trail.
• Our 2019 Trail Safety Program to improve safety at all road intersections up and down the trail.
• Our Dead Tree Removal and Invasive Species Control programs.

• And our Park Reforestation and Landscaping programs.

These programs are staffed and supported by an active group of volunteers who do a wonderful job of maintaining and repairing the trail. The Friends organization is proud to provide the volunteers the tools and supplies needed to support their efforts.

The Friends organization is always looking for opportunities to add to the park amenities to enhance the trail user’s experience. In 2019, FMSP expended over $21,800 on trail improvements. These improvements focused on two areas. At MM 45.2 and 45.5, we identified two locations where the river and culverts presented a potential danger for trail users. FLMSP arranged the purchase and installation of two fences in these locations to protect the users from falling off the edge of the trail and into the creeks. The second area has been a focused improvement of the amenities in the Village of Corwin at MM14. Here, working with the Village of Corwin and with funds from the Simeon Copple memorial fund, we added an information kiosk and a bike repair station with tools and an air pump. This adds to our collection of information kiosks up and down the trail. In addition, we began the planning for adding a picnic shelter at this location, scheduled for completion in 2020.

In addition to trail maintenance and improvements, FLMSP also manages activities intended to improve the trail user experience. The first of these is our trail usage monitoring program from which we develop estimates of the park usage. These data are used by ODNR and FLMSP to plan and manage trail activities and support our fundraising. Second is our Trail Sentinel program that sends our volunteers out on the trail to monitor safety and provide support to trail users. Third is our Volunteer Appreciation efforts to let all the volunteers know they are appreciated. Finally, in 2019 our biggest special event was the Little Miami State Park 40-year anniversary festival held over the weekend of September 28 & 29. Besides providing park patrons with festivals at three different venues as well as organized bike rides on the Little Miami Scenic Trail over both days, the festival activities netted over $2,000. On all these special activities, FMLSP expended just over $8,100.

Administration costs consist of expenses required in the running of a nonprofit which for 2019 came to $11,300 or 18% of our annual expenditures. These expenses included our our website, postage, legal filings, insurance, and fundraising and collection expenses. The Friends of the Little Miami State Park is a 100% volunteer organization with no paid staff.

We are proud to report that 82% of the funds we expended in 2019 went to programs that maintained and improved the Little Miami State Park and enhanced the park user experience.

To fund our activities supporting the Little Miami State Park, the Friends Organization maintains an active fundraising program. In 2019, FLMSP raised over $62,000. These funds came from three primary sources. The first is memberships and direct donations received from our incredible base of trail users. In 2019 we received over $26,000 in memberships and direct donations. Our second source of income comes from grants and funds from foundations, the business community, and adjoining government entities. Specifically, we receive grants from foundations and donor-advised charitable funds, employer and retail sales matching programs, and expenses shared and supported by the local villages where we do work. In 2019, we received over $27,800 from these sources. Finally, in 2019, we received $8,200 income from the Little Miami State Park 40-year Anniversary Festival, providing us a net margin of $2,000 to put into our trail work.

I wish to thank all of our donors and stakeholders for your support to the Friends of the Little Miami State Park and the work we do to make the Little Miami Scenic Trail and State Park an asset for all of the citizens of Ohio.

Dick Feldmann
Treasurer, Friends of the Little Miami State Park

Trail Mail Quiz Answer: All of the items given were paid for by FLMSP in 2019.

by Richard Forrester

The purpose of the FLMSP reforestation program is to replace ash trees killed by the emerald ash borer, stabilize banks to prevent the trail from slipping into the river or its feeder streams, reforest bare areas that had been devoid of trees, and hide unsightly areas adjacent to the trail. Despite adequate volunteers and resources, however, 2019 was one of the most challenging years for the reforestation program in the history of Little Miami Sate Park. 

Native Ohio trees, shrubs, and prairie seeds were ordered from four different organizations this year in the interest of improving biodiversity and due to the suppliers differing inventories. This included a new partnership with the non-profit Ohio Valley Forestry Fellowship which supplied FLMSP with 150 trees (50 redbuds and 100 northern red oaks). These were a much-appreciated donation from an organization that has done a wonderful job of supplying trees to schools, libraries, ODOT, and civic organizations for over 40 years. 

FLSMP continues to obtain low cost flora from several county soil and water conservation districts. These governmental groups help promote conservation through cooperative partnerships, education programs, and technical assistance in land and water management. They also supply low cost tree and shrub seedlings as part of their annual flora sale to the general public.* In 2019, we used Clermont County, Franklin County and Montgomery County SWCD. Because the Little Miami State Park is a State and National Wild and Scenic River, only approved riparian vegetation is allowed to be planted. The trees and shrubs we ordered were all native species that met the Wild and Scenic River requirements.

In addition, several trees were donated by individuals.

All in all, 396 trees and shrubs were obtained. Additionally, packets of Ohio Wildflower and Pollinator seed were obtained for future use in creating small native prairies along the trail. The total expenditure in 2019 for trees, shrubs, and wildflowers was $616.
The following species were obtained at a cost of approximately $1-$3 per tree/shrub:

For comparison, the previous year’s totals were:
   159 in 2015 (first year of the reforestation program),
   314 in 2016
   459 in 2017
   214 in 2018.

Prior to 2019, 1146 trees and shrubs had been planted as part of the reforestation project since its inception.

The 2019 goal was to focus planting on the southern half of the trail. Additionally, prior to planting, a new procedure was implemented in 2019–all Amur Honeysuckle was removed from the areas being planted. Amur Honeysuckle is an extremely aggressive non-native invasive species that is spreading throughout native Ohio forests suppressing and overwhelming the native flora. 

Another change implemented for 2019 was to attempt planting all the trees/shrubs upon arrival in the spring instead of the fall. Trees/shrubs were not potted up as done in previous years for planting in the fall season. The advantage of fall plantings is that they can be stabilized, watered, and fertilized so they develop robust root structures throughout the spring and summer; they are then planted in the fall after they have gone dormant. The downside is this method significantly increases total work as they have to be potted (effectively planted twice) and must be actively managed for months before planting. 

Multiple high school groups and businesses expressed interest in helping with planting efforts, and the planting season started off with a bang. Seven work sessions went off successfully. And then the rains came, and came, and came. Multiple work sessions had to be cancelled. Unfortunately, the constant spring rains severely damaged (drowned or rotted) plants that had not been planted early in the season. Bare-root trees/shrubs can only be held for 1-2 weeks at most.

Once the rains stopped, the weather became too hot and dry to plant. FLMSP does not have the equipment and personnel to individually water hundreds of trees and shrubs planted over dozens of miles of the trail. So, plantings should occur when there is a reasonable expectation of enough ensuing precipitation to keep the plantings alive and thriving without intervention.

Two more sessions occurred later in the year to finish the planting season. Multiple trees were left in pots to overwinter for 2020.
In all, there were 207 volunteer hours logged by the 55 volunteers. Of the 396 trees/shrubs, only 196 were able to be successfully planted.

For year 2020, 200 trees/shrubs were ordered at a cost of $320. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the order for trees was cancelled by the soil and water conservation district. We are hoping they offer a fall planting season sale, assuming there is an end to the pandemic and business returns back to normal. We will keep you posted!

*Almost all counties in Ohio have Soil/Water Districts. You can order plants in the beginning of the year (Jan/Feb/Mar), and pickup is in March/April.

 
Lebanon’s ADVICS Corporation Volunteer Day September 15, 2019

Boy Scout Troop #888, March 17, 2019

Removing Invasive Species: Autumn/Russian Olive, Tree of Heaven, and Amur Honeysuckle

Tree Planting March 23, 2019

ADVICS Corporation Volunteers prepping area for future native Ohio prairie. Main prairie will be in the background to left of picnic shelter (1/4 acre cleared).

Trail Mail Quiz Answer: Poor weather made 2019 the most challenging year in the history of the FLMSP Reforestation program.