Advocacy Manager Brad Barkdoll, joined by staff from the Hollow Oak Land Trust and the Montour Trail Council, co-hosted a multi-site visit in the greater Pittsburgh region to sections of the Montour Trail and conservation areas held by the Hollow Oak Land Trust. Attending the visit was State Senator Camera Bartolotta, State Representatives Valerie Gaydos and Anita Astorino Kulik, State Senator Robinson’s District Staff Doug Saltzman, Representative Kuzma’s district Legislative Assistant David Montgomery, Moon Township Manager Dawn Lane, DCNR regional advisor Adriene Smochek, and Allegheny Regional Asset District Project Manager Meredith Soeder.
The visit began at “Mile 0”, the head of the Montour Trail. There, staff and board members from the Montour Trail Council held a brief educational session on the history of the trail’s development and ongoing streambank restoration projects that help maintain the integrity of the trail. As a sizable portion of the trail runs in tandem with Montour Run, a priority for the Council has been the ongoing protection of streambanks, as increased weather events threaten the integrity of the trail. Following our informational session, Council volunteers led attendees out onto the trail to see firsthand the impacts that deteriorating streambanks have on the integrity of the trail, where just upstream from Mile 0 erosion has begun to cut away at the bank.
Following their time spent at Mile 0, attendees made the short trip to Montour Woods, a 327-acre conservation area in Moon Township that Hollow Oak Land Trust owns and manages. There, staff from Hollow Oak led guests on a short hike through the area to Meeks Run, a small stream already impacted by erosion and deterioration to discuss the ongoing need for project funding to restore the damaged landscape and how investments in trail work positively impact broader connectivity in the surrounding municipalities. Montour Woods hosts ten miles of trails that are open to the community for hiking, biking, and the enjoyment of nature.
