Last week PWTSC was contacted by a resident of Victory Lakes who was concerned about the overgrowth of the Broad Run Trail in the Braemar subdivision. Upon inspection, our Western Trails Director, Jim Hollis, found that the length of the trail that was situated on the stormwater easement had chest-high growth on most of its length – about three-quarters of a mile. Saturday morning, Jane brought out to the site the DR Trimmer that PWTSC had recently purchased. Rick came out with loppers, and Tim King, the concerned resident, also came out with a string trimmer. Jane showed Jim how to use the DR, and everyone started work at about 8:45 AM. Before noon we had the entire length of trail cut about 8 feet wide. That machine is amazing. Very easy to use, and very effective. Jim threw the drive belt after hitting a hidden rotten log, but Tim and he reseated the belt by hand in about two minutes and kept rolling.
We had no sooner completed mowing a single track than we were being passed by everyone from pairs of joggers to a couple walking their dog. Paula Small and one of her sons were out there as well. We estimate 10 people walked the route as we were working. Adjacent homeowners came out to introduce themselves and thank us. One of the homeowners was the president of their section’s HOA, who pledged to try to keep up the trail either through their own efforts or by employing the landscape company to do it, now that we had gotten it back to a manageable height.