SCA Jack Johnson commands a crew of 20 Air Force JROTC volunteers.

Blazing a Trail in a National Park
Two months of planning culminated on Saturday September 30th, 2006 with the construction of more than a mile of hiking trails adjacent to Amistad Reservoir. Had it not been for the initiative of four SCA Research Associates, all recruited and hired from the local community of Del Rio, Texas this project would never have happened. Funny thing though - they weren’t hired to build a trail.

All four SCA members are assigned to the Education and Resources Management Division at Amistad National Recreation Area. Jack Johnson is the archeological intern for the Cultural Resources Program. Shannon Garard is the museum curator intern, also working with Cultural Resources. Melissa Webster is the division’s cultural resources web intern while Amber Beamer is an education intern who teaches monarch butterfly awareness at local schools. Two months ago –not one of them knew anything about trail building; but as they all frequently said “where there’s a will, there is always a way.”

The SCA crew stands with a group of its volunteers.

On a beautiful fall day, this 4-member SCA group supervised a crew of more than 100 local volunteers during an all day project to build the initial sections of the trail. The Air Force Junior ROTC program at Del Rio High School sent a 55-person squadron to take part in the project. More than a dozen active-duty service personnel came from Laughlin Air Force Base and a like number of community-minded students from Southwest Texas Junior College were also among the many volunteers. Park staff members Eric Briske, Joe Labadie, John Little, and Lisa Evans assisted where needed.

Known as the Sunrise Trail, this pathway will eventually link the National Park Service campground at San Pedro to the Visitor Information Center on U.S. Highway 90. It was the SCA members that came up with the idea to blaze the new trail. Park staff was receptive to the basic idea, as long as it didn’t interfere too much with their regular duties, and encouraged them to develop the concept further. The basic trail layout was designed by them using digital maps and GIS software which was then ground-truthed by way of several field surveys before the final trail route was flagged through the southwest Texas scrubrush and cactus.

A volunteer from SWTJC levels the surface of the trail.

When completed, the 1.8 mile Sunrise Hiking Trail will traverse 5 separate thematic and environmental zones. Interpretive trail signage, also spear-headed by SCA interns, were written and designed for the enjoyment of future trail hikers. The signage highlights the birds, plants, mammals, butterflies, and insects found in each environmental zone. Additional signage will focus on thematic areas along the trail and will explain paleontology and archeology in the area-visually interpreting the structural remains of what once was a historic ranch headquarters with stock tanks, water troughs, and fenced enclosures. The National Park Service has invested over $6,000 to produce the trail signage; these baked-porcelain enamel signs mounted on steel posts should last for many years.

Future hikers will be able to download detailed trail information before arriving at the park. A cooperative venture between the park and the Art Department and the Digital Academy at the University of North Carolina Pembroke will result in the creation of an interactive digital exhibit that will be available for download from the park website, including an IPOD version. Website visitors will be able to see pictures of, and hear the unique calls for, the most common birds to be found along the trail. Photographs, illustrations, and text descriptions of the behaviors and locales for several dozen insects and butterflies will also be featured. A 10-minute DVD ROM production of the website, to be shown in the theater at the park’s Visitor Information Center, will be narrated by two animated spotted ground squirrels.