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Hava Berman, Ben Meadows Market Manager, writes about her experience in
helping to map the trails of Brechtel Memorial
Park:
Brechtel Memorial Park is a gem of a park located
in Algiers, Louisiana. The park is named after
Louisiana’s first Parks Director. The park
was built in the 40’s through a Civil Works
Administration program and was donated to the
citizens of Algiers eight years ago. It’s
less than 10-minutes from the French Quarter in
New Orleans and provides excellent opportunities
for viewing wildlife; local and not so local vegetation
and art.
Art?
Yes, the tireless folks who raise money to keep
the park in pristine condition have had no trouble
at all raising money by introducing art into the
park. Similar to fund raising efforts featuring
artistically enhanced statues of cows in Chicago,
Brechtel Park fund raisers decided to use statues
of fish. The project provided over $1,000,000
for park restoration.
Key to this effort was Paul Richard, a local
leader of fund raising at Brechtel Memorial Park
and our contact for the mapping project. Paul
has been working to bring Brechtel Park back to
its former glory for eight years.
Ben Meadows became involved in the mapping project
after I met Paul Richard at the Texas Nursery
and Landscape Association convention in Houston
this past August. When Paul learned that Ben Meadows
sells GPS units, he asked me if any of our manufacturers
would be interested in teaching Scout Troop number
64 how to use GPS to map the trails within the
park. Troop 64 recently "adopted" Brechtel
Park and has worked hard to restore it. In fact,
Paul Richards’s son, Jean Paul, is a member
of Troop 64 and is on his way toward becoming
an Eagle Scout. It was Jean Paul who originally
took it upon himself to map the maze of crisscrossing
trails that cover 50 acres of the 100 acre park.
Knowing that Ben Meadows would be in New Orleans
for WEFTEC in October, I volunteered to help with
the project. Jack Schaffer, a Ben Meadows Technical
Product Manager, also volunteered and we enlisted
the help of Brunton Company to make the mapping
project happen.
Brunton provided four Atlas GPS units, mapping
software and a card reader. The card reader and
mapping software enabled us to make maps at the
site using a laptop PC. Four volunteers each used
one GPS unit and mapped the perimeter of the park,
perimeter of the lake and the crisscrossing trails
on September 30. Chuck Slack, a self employed
computer consultant, created the maps on a picnic
table at the park. The Brunton units were extremely
easy to use and once the waypoints we had taken
were layed on an existing map of Brechtel Memorial
Park, a map of the trails was born!
The four of us met again on October 2, to teach
the scouts of Troop 64 how to use GPS, how to
name waypoints and how to use the mapping software
to create maps. We split up into four groups and
each took a different section of the park. We
then returned to base camp (the picnic tables)
to watch our maps being created. Along the way,
we encountered several local and not so local
species of trees and bushes. There were huge magnolia
trees, lots of oak, palmetto bushes, black cherry
trees and many others. The trails winded through
gorgeous trees overgrown with vines and giant
ferns. The park seemed magical with extremely
lush areas interspersed with hidden alcoves of
leafy green vines and wisteria. As we mapped,
we jotted down places and names sitting areas
would be appropriate. We also met lots of skinks,
spiders, woodpeckers, rabbits and various birds
of prey.
The trails are intended to be used as orienteering
training and competitive trails. Mr. Richard plans
to work with Brunton and the United States Orienteering
Federation to obtain approval for Brechtel Memorial
Park to be the only urban orienteering park in
the US. Paul also sees the trails being used to
educate folks about local vegetation and wildlife.
Much like an “outdoor lab” is used
today.
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