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THE FWCCSP RECORDVOLUME 2 NO.2SECOND AJ\JNUAL MEETING HELD AT JUDGE MORRIS ESTATE

The second annual meeting of the Friends of White Clay Creek State Park washeld on March 18th, 1999 at the Andrew Gray House on the Judge Morris Estate. A totalof 47 members and guests attended the event highlighted by a presentation by director ofParks and Recreation Charles Salkin on the present and future plans for White Clay CreekState Park. This followed tours of the house, dessert and a briefbusiness meeting wherethe following actions were taken: The executive committe for 1999 was electedunanimously President, Andrew Urquhart; Vice-President, Frank Rawling; Treasurer, KyleBottorrf; and Secretary, Mark Keese.Also, a proposed change to the by-laws was announced (see May meeting minutes formore information).NATIONAL TRAILS DAYby Tom HallenbeckTo commemorate National Trails Day, members of the Friends of White Clay Creek StatePark gathered with several other volunteer organizations and State DNREC employees toupgrade the main trails at the Judge Morris property on Polly Drummond Rd. DavidBartoo, Trail Specialist for Delaware State Parks, coordinated the event and other statepark employees served as leaders for individual work groups. In addition to general trailmaintenance, a by-pass trail was created to avoid an erosion area and a new footbridgewas constructed. The weather cooperated and a good half-day's work was put in byeveryone (longer for the bridge builders). FWCCSP members who participated were DebAlesantrino, Julie Burkey, Bob Bennett, Jim Gitney, Ton Hallenbeck, Jack Hill, JohnThomas, Andy Urquhart, Carolyn White and Chris Yasik. Thanks to all!MORE BENCHES DEPLOYED IN PARK by Andy UrquhartGreat progress is being made on the bench project, thanks to the efforts of Tom Braatz,Jack Hill, John Thomas, and project leader Andy Urquhart. Park Superintendent NickMcFadden has provided invaluable assistance as well. Donations have been received forsix benches. To date, two benches have been made and placed within the park. One is onthe loop trail above Chamber's Rock Rd (near the PA line), and the other is at the TwinPonds area on the trail behind the park office. Both are in stunningly beautiful locationstake time to try them out i f you haven't already. Three more benches have been completedand will be installed in the park in the near future, and another three are partially complete.If we get ahead of donations we intend to continue to make and place benches, and wewill add plaques to them as additional donations are received. I f you, or anyone youknow, are interested in donating a bench contact Andy Urquhart at 239-2471.FRIENDS AID IN BIRD COUNTSix members ofFWCCSP helped on the White Clay Creek State Park part ofthe

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7Delmarva Ornithological Society's spring bird count, a state-wide census of birdpopulations. The count occurred on May 8. White Clay Creek State Park is one of thepremier birding locations in the state and the numbers bear that out: a total of 109 specieswere recorded including 23 species of warblers for a grand total of almost 3000 individualbirds. Thanks to Frank and Phyllis Rawling, Andy Urquhart, Dorothy Miller, Gene Hessand Mark Keese for their efforts.OPEN SPACE INITIATIVE BEFORE DE LEGISLATUREThe Delaware State Legislature is currently considering funding for the preservation ofopen space and farmland in Delaware, including the potential acquisition ofland to expandWhite Clay Creek State Park. We urge you to call or write your Senator andRepresentative and urge their support for open space and farmland preservation. Forinformation on who represents your district in the legislature and how to contact them callthe Department of Elections at 577-3464.CITY OF NEWARK STILL SEEKS RESERVOIR SITEThe City ofNewark currently is considering whether to condemn the Koelig property onOld Paper Mill Rd for the purpose of constructing a reservoir to provide for Newark'sfuture water needs. Although this property is not within or adjacent to the park, we arerequesting our members who live in the City ofNewark support this action for thefollowing reasons: 1) building the reservoir at this location would eliminate the threat thatthe resrvoir could be built elsewhere, possibly on lands that would have a greater impacton White Clay Creek State Park, 2) some of the land surrounding a new reservoir wouldbe used as a city park, and 3) the reservoir would prevent the alternative of developmentof as many as 200 new homes on this property (the development plan has already beenapproved). Please contact your city councilperson to express your support for thiscondemnation.CHANGE IN MEETING SCHEDULEPlease be informed that the meeting scheduled for July 15, 1999 has been canceled due tothe summer vacation season. Our next meeting will be on September 16, 1999 at 7:00 PMat the Nature Center. Also, the Executive Committee has decided to change frombimontWy to quarterly meetings, still on the third Thursday of the month (except thatDecember's meeting will be on the second Thursday to reduce conflicts with the holidayseason). Thus, future meetings will be on September 16, 1999, December 9, 1999, March16,2000 (annual meeting) and June 15,2000.MINUTES FROM MEETING: MAY 20, 1999 by Mark KeeseThe May meeting of the FWCCSP was called to order at 7: 11 PM, President AndyUrquhart presiding. In attendance: Andy Urquhart, Kyle Bottorrf, Frank Rawling, GeneHess, Tom Hallenbeck, John Thomas, Jack Hill, Jim and Mauricette Gitney, CarolynWhite, David Bartoo and Mark Keese. The meeting commenced with a presentation byDavid Bartoo, Trail Specialist for State Parks on his work to map the trail systems for

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each state park as a prelude to developing a comprehensive trail strategy (includingstandardization of signs, trail characteristics (width etc ... )). He informed us ofa large trailmaintenance project scheduled for National Trails Day, June 5th at the Judge Morrisproperty. FWCCSP conunitted to participate.Kyle provided a financial report. We have 97 paid members and $1247.00 in the budget.Our expenditures for the year to date is $614.00.The proposed by-laws change, that quorum for an executive committee meeting be 3rather than 5 was approved unanimously.Projects updates: Two projects have been completed, the refurbishing of bluebird boxesin the field north ofChambers Rock Rd. parking lot and the clean-up of the bottle dumpon the old cart road offofThompson Station Rd.Thanks to all who participated, Frank Rawling, Ginny Schiavelli, Jack Hill, Gene Hess,Kyle Bottorrf, Tom Hallenbeck and Mark Keese.Benches: Two benches completed and installed.National Trails Day: FWCCSP will participate in Judge Morris project on June 5th (seeabove).The deadlines for requesting a booth for Liberty Day is May 28 and for NewarkCommunity Day is July 1. We have agreed to participate in both events again this year.Andy Urquhart discussed a conversation he had with Marc Churra about the Friendsassisting with getting public input for a scaled-back proposal for a band shell at CarpenterRecreation Center. Discussion centered around the potential controversial nature of thisissue. It was agreed that we should be careful not to give the impression that we weresupporting the band shell proposal, merely facilitating an avenue for the public tocomment on the porposal. Andy Urquhart was going to pursue this matter with MarcChurra.The meeting concluded sometime around 8:40 PM.Faithfully Submitted,

Mark Keese, SecretaryFWCCSP