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Hoodsport park on track for Memorial Day weekend

Forest McCullough of Hoodsport-based Northwest Land & Tree recently told the Port of Hoodsport Commission that “snow has put a damper on our progress,” but he still expects work on the Hoodsport trail park to be complete for the port commissioners’ planned opening around Memorial Day weekend.

While the early part of March still saw onsite logging work continue, McCullough said work on the parking lot had to be suspended at times while he waited for snow to melt.

When Port of Hoodsport Commissioner Lori Kincannon asked how much snow McCullough was dealing with, he and port commissioner Cody Morris answered, “a lot.” Fellow commissioner Terry Brazil estimated as much as 11 inches were on the ground as of March 8.

“It just seems to keep going,” McCullough said. “It’ll melt, then snow some more on top.”

McCullough nonetheless expressed optimism, given upcoming weather forecasts. Brazil said, “There’s too many things still floating out there,” with regard to his schedule.

“If your work was totally done by the end of April or the first of May, that would give us a couple of weeks to do some cleanup, and get everything looking really pretty with some volunteers,” Kincannon said. “Is that still a possibility?”

McCullough assured Kincannon he’s on track to wrap up by the end of April, as originally intended. He said several park and trail features were completed prior to the snowfall.

He credited Port of Grapeview Maintenance Manager Scott Lindgren with planting trees and bringing in big rocks to help form a border, which “actually started looking really nice, until it snowed,” an assessment McCullough repeated when it came to Lindgren’s work to beautify the Hoodsport disc golf course, prior to the snowfalls.

“There isn’t much we can do on these areas, when they’re all covered with snow,” McCullough said.

Work remaining includes grading the parking lot, and Lindgren plans to install a log on the west side parking lot, “to keep people from spinning doughnuts with their cars.”

Kincannon said she hopes to conduct a couple of volunteer weekends in the park prior to Memorial Day.

“I know you guys want to do a walk-through, once we get close to being done,” McCullough said.

“Ideally, before you’re done, so if there’s something we have a concern about, you’ll still have equipment up there, and will be able to take care of it,” Kincannon said.

Brazil inquired about “a couple of piles” on the disc golf course, asking, “Are those burnable, or do they just rot?”

“They just rot away,” McCullough said. “If there’s any piles over there that you’d like us to move, we can move them, or scatter them out. I did see a couple of piles close to the property line.”

McCullough explained those piles will serve as nutrients for the soil.

“It rots away pretty quickly,” McCullough said “It’ll be in the bushes. You won’t even see it. There’s willow blooming right now, and maple is starting to bloom a little bit. The greenery’s going to be coming back pretty quickly.”

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

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Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
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