Keep Virginia Beautiful will award its annual “Green Grants” each day during the month of June.  Friends of the Dahlgren Trail, in King George Virginia, received a grant award of $750 for its Community Beautification project. 

Government, non-profit, civic and service organizations in Virginia were invited to apply for Keep Virginia Beautiful "Green Grants," and were asked to describe how they plan to tackle an environmental concern in their community regarding Litter Prevention, Recycling, Cigarette Litter Prevention, or Community Beautification.
 
A special focus of the "Green Grants" this year is to support diverse groups and underserved populations by adding five additional grant awards, for a total of thirty-five awards. There are areas on the Dahlgren Trail that need raised bridges or boardwalks to ensure safe and equitable access for those with limited mobility. Funds from the Green Grant will be used to build a raised boardwalk in a chronically muddy and sometimes impassable section of the trail. The particular area to be improved is located at approximately mile 1.9, which is one of the most commonly visited and used sections of the Dahlgren Trail, near the trailhead.
 
The mission at Keep Virginia Beautiful is to engage and unite Virginians to improve the natural and scenic environment.  Since 2011, Keep Virginia Beautiful has provided $254,500 for 320 different environmental programs and projects all across the Commonwealth, due to the generosity of their partnership with Altria, as well as additional support from Coca-Cola, WestRock and Keep America Beautiful.

We are literally building bridges to welcome new trail users!
Over the past few weekends, we were able to rally a group of dedicated volunteers and community members to construct raised boardwalks through a chronically muddy section of the Dahlgren Trail. When the Sheetz-To-Sheetz Trail Run appeared on our doorstep this year, we wanted to ensure that all walkers, runners, hikers, and wheelchair athletes could successfully navigate the trail in time to enjoy this popular local event.

• Our story was picked up by the Free Lance-Star, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press!

In addition to the construction of the trail bridges, there have been additional coordinated efforts to remove downed trees and other trail obstructions, clean up litter, clear parking areas, and improve drainage in certain spots along the trail. We would not be able to achieve these accomplishments without the generosity of our volunteers. We'd like to give a huge "Thanks!" to all who have contributed to the health and visibility of the trail including Chris Chalkley, Warren Veazey, Dillon Veazey, Kevin Biondi, Jim Buckley, Chris Reinhardt, Annie Cupka, David Gaske, Michele Tritt, John Wiltenmuth, and some local groups including Scout Troop 199 from Stafford, Troop 191 from King George, Troop 0110 from Ladysmith, Troop 1203 from California, MD, and several deputies from the King George Sheriff's Office.

In addition to the two recent events on the trail, the Dahlgren Trail Half Marathon & Sheetz-To-Sheetz Trail Run, we have been continuing our quest for dry conditions and improved drainage in several areas along the trail. Our friend Ian Littlejohn has also been assisting us with some much needed surveying work; differing types of rail corridor boundaries were installed in the early 1940s when the railroad was being constructed. Over the years, those boundaries have been lost or moved around. Our efforts to clean up those boundary areas, identify clean property lines of homeowners adjacent to the trail, and identify historical markers are important not just to the preservation of trail history but also to allow for informed trail expansion plans and decisions.

For those trail users who have followed us for a few years, you may recall the former superintendent of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, Don Briggs. He retired some years ago and a new acting superintendent Anne O'Neill will be vising the trail later this month. The Dahlgren Trail is a piece of the 830-mile long Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, and we are happy to welcome Anne and continue our goal of being an integrated into current trail systems and the VA State Park System.

Lastly, we are proud to recognize trail owner, David G. Brickley. A lifelong advocate and champion of trails, greenways and conservation efforts in Virginia, David recently earned the Boy Scouts of America William T. Hornaday Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to Natural Resource Conservation! The William T. Hornaday Award, first granted in 1915, is the oldest continuous conservation award given by any organization in the United States. It’s one of the rarest awards given in the Boy Scouts of America, as only 62 people have received the gold medal award since 1915. Read more about David and his contributions to the great outdoor spaces in Virginia, click here.

Thanks for reading, and see you on the trail!

The Dahlgren Trail was purchased in 2006 by David G. Brickley. A lifelong advocate and champion of trails, greenways and conservation efforts in Virginia, David recently earned the Boy Scouts of America William T. Hornaday Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to Natural Resource Conservation!

The William T. Hornaday Award, first granted in 1915, is the oldest continuous conservation award given by any organization in the United States. It’s one of the rarest awards given in the Boy Scouts of America, as only 62 people have received the gold medal award since 1915.

Read more about David and his contributions to the great outdoor spaces in Virginia, click here.
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Winter is upon us here in Dahlgren, Virginia, and the temperatures sure are chilly! So far in 2021, I think we’ve only gotten below 20 degrees once or twice at night. Generally, the day provides us temperatures in the 40s, which is a great forecast for the trail. With pleasant weather and increased free time around the holidays, we have seen increased use of the trail (and we are so excited about it)! Earlier this week I had the pleasure of chatting with some walkers on the western end of the trail. They had gone to Comorn Road parking area around trail mile marker 4, which is turning into a popular trailhead. They found the lot packed! So, they instead came to the trailhead at Bloomsbury Road which hosts plenty of free parking. Many trail users are also brining their dogs along for the journey; we are always happy to see canine friends, as long as they are on a leash.
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We want to encourage and support all the increased trail use that we have been seeing. The Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail Board of Directors is currently in discussions with neighboring land owners at Comorn Road and Owens Road about buying small parcels which would allow us to expand our parking facilities. If those acquisitions come to fruition, we’ll use some recently awarded grant funds to do the necessary work to turn the parcels into graded and graveled parking areas.

Planning continues for several upcoming races that will occur on the trail; we are delighted to work with our partners at Arsenal Events and the Sheetz2Sheetz Run to provide fun and safe opportunities for the local trail runners and walkers, as well as give back to those in need within our community. For more information about upcoming races, please read further into this monthly newsletter, and check out the event page on our website, here.

Lastly, we are proud to welcome two new members to our board. Jim Buckley, a Marine Corps retiree, has been an avid trail volunteer for years and is most welcome addition to our leadership. Champe Burnley is the immediate past president of the Virginia Bicycling Federation and a frequent citizen lobbyist for cycling interests in the Virginia legislature. We’re glad to have them both and thank them for their willingness to serve.

This is the start of a fresh year, full of new initiatives and projects, and days well spent on the beautiful Dahlgren Trail. I hope to see you out there soon!

Fall is a really great time of year to be out on a trail, any trail, but especially the Dahlgren Trail. I’m seeing many notable things on my frequent visits: more cars at our parking areas, and more walkers and cyclists. Dog lovers have found the trail too; we give thanks to our wonderful trail users for keeping all pets on a leash. I also saw several local scout groups completing a 20-mile hike for their hiking merit badge!
 
We were recently awarded a grant to improve our parking at two parking areas: the Comorn Road and Indiantown Road crossings. Many thanks to our friends at the Fredericksburg Community Foundation for giving us the opportunity to make these critical improvements which will lead to increased access for our beloved trail. We’re very appreciative of our trail users who let us know about conditions on the trail that need attention. Believe it or not, the most reliable way for us to know about a fallen tree is through an email or Facebook note from a trail user. We generally see up to five downed trees a month on the trail. Our chain saw gang (aka: The Flying Lumberjacks) can get it cleared pretty quickly – if you see an issue on the trail, reach out to us!
 
We’re also thrilled about upcoming events on the trail! A new King George Race Series will be inaugurated in 2021. The races to be in the series are the Dahlgren Trail Winter Half-Marathon in February, the Sheetz-to-Sheetz Run in March, the 3H Half-Marathon in August, and the Howlin’ Coyote 10k at Caledon State Park in October. We want to give a huge acknowledgement and thanks to Kristen Loescher of Arsenal Events, Justyn Cox, Friends of Caledon, and Chris Chalkley for spearheading this initiative. Runners can sign up now for the series or for individual races at arsenal-events.com.

When we’re out for a walk, run or ride, we don’t always think about the topography and hydrology of the trail. The trail, while mostly level, rises slightly going east to west. The rise starts at about mile 7, and continues on a slight grade until approximately mile marker 4 where it crosses the “ridge” separating the Potomac and the Rappahannock watersheds - King George’s own “continental divide.”

There are a lot of streams, both perennial and intermittent, that flow under the trail. They feed into Lamb’s Creek flowing south to the Rappahannock, and into Peppermill and Williams Creeks flowing eventually to the Potomac. The streams flow under the trail through culverts or pipes. Ian Littlejohn has started to catalog the location and status of these culverts and pipes, and he has been noting which ones need clearing.  It’s our responsibility to keep the culverts and pipes clear so the streams and rainfall water can flow freely. In addition to the pipes and culverts, the ditches alongside of the trail sometimes become clogged and blocked in a few places, so we need to get those cleared out too. If you’d like to help with this job, consider joining our maintenance crew.

And finally, we owe our thanks to an Eagle Scout candidate, Gary Garay, who was finished replacing the canvas roof on our vintage RF&P caboose. His was a big job and was much needed to maintain the water-tightness of the car. We’ll have a more complete report on Gary’s project in an upcoming newsletter.
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As most of you know, the trail depends on volunteers and donations to keep things going. Anything you can chip in is appreciated. If you haven’t, please consider donating to our “Treasure the Trail” fundraiser, in which proceeds will go right back into tangible trail improvements so that the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail is an enjoyable, accessible, and healthy place for everyone, year-round.
It is hard to beat the nice crisp weather this time of year! I hope to see you on the trail sometime!