Friends of Lapham Peak Unit - Kettle Mor

The snowmaking program provides man-made snow on ski trails for cross country skiing, hiking, and snowshoeing. Snowmaking this past year provided a thick layer of man-made snow on approximately 2.4 kilometers of trails. The trails were groomed regularly from december through march resulting in 90 days of skiing on man-made snow, compared to only 42 days of skiing on other trails with natural snow and marginal conditions. This project benefits more than 300,000 visitors to the park annually for their recreation. Work is in progress to both better maintain and to expand the trails.

Other program services include the memorial bench project, engraved bricks project for the butterfly garden, and bluebird boxes. The revenue and expenses for the memorial bench project are reported as part of cost of goods sold. The memorial bench project involves the construction of new benches to replace existing benches throughout the park that are in disrepair or that do not have a backrest. Individuals or groups donate the necessary amount to place a bench in a specified location within the park to honor or memorialize individuals, the cost of which also includes a single bronze plaque. The engraved bricks project involves the installation of a brick walkway in the butterfly garden.

Trail, prairie, and habitat restoration and improvements, as well as improvements to signage for park visitors to better navigate the trails and to use the park facilities. More than 2,100 hours were spent by volunteers in the removal of invasive species from the park. Over 225 piles of buckthorn, honeysuckle, box elders, ash, black locust, etc., were cut and burned during the past year. In addition, 48 truck-fulls of invasive grasses, pampas and phragmites, and garlic mustard were also removed and burned.