Tanglewood Park Boardwalk: June 2010

Friday, June 25, 2010

June 2010

We've started work again this season on the boardwalk. In three work parties this June, we completed 32 sections.

We'll be moving them down into the bog soon to start the next legs.

Great news -- The path, platform and bridges that we completed last fall came through the winter in excellent condition!!

Our volunteers are terrific and we have fun working together on this project. There's always room for more helpers.

Please join us!!
Just send

at email from link at top of page.

Pizza for the crew.

About Our Project

The Tanglewood Park Boardwalk is an all-volunteer project to build a 1,400-foot boardwalk in Tanglewood Park, a 41-acre wetlands park in south Anchorage, Ak.

Tanglewood Park, an Anchorage city park, is adjacent to Bowman Elementary School and the surrounding residential neighborhood. Great Land Trust holds the conservation easement in this park and has conducted several restortion projects to return damaged areas to wetlands characteristics. The idea for using this wetlands as an outdoor classroom originated through combined efforts of the Great Land Trust, community members and Bowman Elementary School teachers and parents.

The boardwalk provides a year-round walking path through various bog habitats for viewing plants and animals in the restored and natural areas of this park. Its use as an outdoor classroom is facilitated by construction of larger platforms along the route so teachers can gather groups of students for observations and discussion.

The boardwalk is funded through grants from the following entities:

Anchorage Park Foundation/Rasmuson Challenge Grant, $27,500 (matching funds)

Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grant, $7,500
Lowe's Hero's Grant, Lowe's South Anchorage Store, $1,500
Alaska Conservation Foundation Watchable Wildlife Conservation Trust Grant, $4,000
Bowman PTA, $196

Business partners supporting this project with generous donations of materials, expertise and labor include:

Alaska Control Excavating, Peter Howlett, owner
McKinley Fence Company of Alaska
Tag-Along Trailers
Treeline Construction
Whalen Construction, Pat Whalen, owner

Construction started in fall 2008, after the grant monies were received and used to purchase building materials.

Dozens of volunteers — parents of Bowman students, their children, teachers, and interested community members — have put in hundreds of hours at various phases of construction since fall '08.

Terrence Smith organized work crews to build a section of the board walk as his Eagle Scout Project in summer 2010.

Final construction of the boardwalk was completed in October 2011.

Interpretative Signs
The last phase in this project is to place interpretative signs along the boardwalk. These signs should be in place by fall 2013.

Sign donors include:
• The Huffman/O'Malley Community Council, $100
• Board-walk-a-thon, fall 2011, by Bowman students, $1900
• Northwest Landscape, Inc., $100
• Silent auction during Bowman Math/Science night, January 2012, $2400.

The Anchorage Park's Department has provided sign frames and supports, which are being modified by parent Andy Meltzer to attach to the boardwalk.

All-weather interpretative signs should be in place by fall 2013.

You can follow progress on this boardwalk project in posts on this blog.

Tanglewood Park Boardwalk

Questions? More Information? Want to Volunteer?

Friday, June 25, 2010

June 2010

Wood Frogs

Carrying Sections

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