“I live in a place where people come on vacation, and my family reminds me of that pretty frequently.”

Our host, Marci Mowery, chats with Jim McCorkle who manages Shawnee State Park in Bedford County, a role he's held for five years within a 19-year park management career.

Speaking from the park's Historical and Interpretive Center, he describes a place built around its 450-acre lake, kept free of gas motors so paddlers, anglers, and swimmers share the water peacefully. Trails range from the paved, stroller-friendly Lake Shore Trail to Field Trail's unexpected Allegheny Plateau overlook, to a quieter, hillier loop along Forbes, Pigeon Hills, and Tiday trails that most visitors skip.

Overnight options span camping cottages, an island lodge once part of the Bowman family's Water Brooks Dairy Farm, and 201 campsites, including "Great Gathering" sites for larger groups and new "buddy sites" arriving alongside a rebuilt yurt for the 2027 season.

Historically, Forbes Road once passed through the property, the Shawnee people moved seasonally through the area, and longtime educator Ron Barlik spent 51 seasons amassing a Native American artifact collection now being recatalogued. The park, dammed and dedicated in 1951, marks its 75th anniversary this year with a 75K challenge and an October 17th celebration.

Volunteers, coordinated through the Friends of Shawnee and Blue Knob State Parks, sustain much of this through trail work, cleanups, and events like Art in the Park.

What Jim hopes visitors take away is that even a place built for tourists can be a backyard worth discovering!

Key Topics:

• What to Expect at Shawnee (01:28)
• Campsites, Great Gathering Sites, and New Buddy Sites (04:49)
• Bedford County and the Surrounding Laurel Highlands (10:57)
• Celebrating 75 Years of Shawnee State Park (15:10)
• Family Activities (18:26)
• Overlooked Trails and Quiet Contemplation Spots (19:32)
• The Friends of Shawnee and Blue Knob State Parks (26:31)
• Healthy Lands Week and Closing Thoughts (29:44)

Resources:

• Shawnee State Park: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr/recreation/where-to-go/state-parks/find-a-park/shawnee-state-park
• Shawnee State Park Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShawneeSP/
• Friends of Shawnee and Blue Knob State Parks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendsofshawneeblueknob/
• Friends of Shawnee and Blue Knob State Parks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfShawnee
• Discover Bedford County: https://discoverbedfordcounty.com/
• Bedford County Development Association: https://www.facebook.com/GrowingBedfordCounty/
• Shawnee Boat Rental: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566658509518
• Pa Healthy Lands Week: https://pahealthylandsweek.org/
• Pa Healthy Lands Week Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthylandsweek/

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In the spring and fall time during migration season, we do get a significant amount of of birds, including waterfowl that stop over on the lake, and sometimes large numbers of tundra swans stop by, in the hundreds. That's something that, timing wise, very weather dependent, but late winter, early spring, when when those birds are moving through during spring migration, in the springtime we do get significant number of bald eagles and osprey that frequent the lake. This spring, in particular, one of our folks that that lives local said that he saw 41 bald eagles in

wow

one day. It is a very important flyway, being where along the Allegheny Front.

Imagine a place where stress fades, fresh air fills your lungs, and adventure waits around every corner. Welcome to Think Outside, the podcast that inspires you to explore, connect, and embrace the outdoors. Welcome to Think Outside with the Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation. I'm your host Marcy Mowry, and today we are sitting at Shawnee State Park in the Historical and Interpretive Center with Manager Jim McCorkle. Jim, thank you for joining us today.

Thank you for having me.

Really excited to be here. I mean, we're on the. It's a Friday. I know this is a very busy time for you, so I appreciate you. You know, taking some time to have a conversation. I was sharing with you before we got on, that I was just reading a post on social media where somebody was saying that, "Hey, I'm heading out to Shawnee. What should I expect? So, can we start with answering that question? What can somebody expect to find when they visit Shawnee State Park?

Sure, that's a very good question. I've been in management for 19 years now, and it always excites me when somebody comes into the office, or I catch them out in the park, and they say this is my first time to the park, so it's like great. Let me tell you what you can do here at Shawnee or wherever it has been that I've worked in the past. Shawnee's a great place. The focal point of the park is the lake. We have a 450 acre lake, so a lot of folks come here for fishing. They come here for canoeing and kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, anything you can do to get out on the water. So that's a great thing for folks to do. Don't miss that when you come to Shawnee. It's hard to miss the lake, but the the lake is open only to electric motors, so it makes it really friendly for anybody that's paddling versus in a boat. Shawnee is one of the few places that I've lived over my career and worked at over my career, that we have spectacular sunsets, and that is a natural resource that you shouldn't miss at Shawnee. It's a wonderful place to come down to one of the little launches or one of the parking areas, or just take a stroll around the lake during sunset. And it's a wonderful thing. You can see the Allegheny from the the park here, and it's a it's a spectacular view, particularly at sunset. So those are a couple things that you definitely don't want to miss while you're at Shawnee. We have a three and a half mile trail that goes around the lake. It is named the Lake Shore Trail, one of the most popular things that we have for folks to do here. That's open to biking. It's pretty easy for folks with strollers, you know, young kids that can get around, and obviously for walking as well. So it's pretty flat, being that it's around the lake. There's a little bit ups and downs on it, but it's a stone paved trail. So again, pretty accessible and and and easy for folks with strollers, wagons, that sort of thing to get around on as well.

Nice. And when I was visiting a couple of weeks ago, you took me on a trail that I hadn't been on before, and I was just amazed at the vista from that trail. Can you remind me the name of that trail?

So that is Field Trail. So the name, as you mentioned, might be a little like, well, I thought I was just going to be walking through a field. Well, some of it goes through fields that we have in the park. It takes you up to a wonderful overlook, overlooking the lake. You can see the dam from there, and again, some of the the mountains in the background. Kenton's Dob is one of the mountains that you can see from up there, and it is, I think, the most spectacular view that we have in the park. And it's not too far from the trailhead to get to the the overlook there on Field Tree.

It really was a spectacular view, and and not one I was anticipating,

right?

Partly because of the name of the trail, as you said, but also is just I hadn't thought of that sort of like rolling mountain scenery from Shawnee State Park.

Yeah, it's a

beautiful, beautiful sight. Plenty of mountains and wooded mountains too, right? It's you don't see a whole lot of development from the park. So

we other also when we were here, we looked at all the different overnight accommodations that you have, and you have quite a few different types that are can accommodate lots of different needs. Can we talk about those?

Sure, be

happy to. We have three camping cottages that live in our campground, so those are reservable for two night minimum throughout the camping season. They accommodate. Five people. They're pretty basic amenities inside a camping cottage. If you've not ever been inside one, I know you have, Marcy. But for anybody that's listening that hasn't, bunk beds. You have to provide your own linens. There's electricity in them. There's heat in the camping cottages. A ceiling fan and a table with a couple chairs. But that's pretty much it. So it's bring your bring a lot of things, but you don't sleep in a tent, or and if you don't have a travel trailer or something like that, it's a great way to come out and see the park and stay over a couple nights or longer if you like to. Another overnight accommodation that we have is on an island in the park. The island is accessible by vehicle, but it is an island still, and it is the Shawnee Lodge, sometimes called the Lakeside Lodge as well, it accommodates up to eight, and it is a modern facility, so it has kitchen, fully stocked kitchen, has a nice patio space outside with a fire ring and a charcoal grill out there. So accommodates up to eight people. Again, same style of bedding. You got to bring your own linens for our accommodations, but everything else that you need is is pretty much there, outside of your personal items, and it has spectacular views of the lake. It's really handy to the lake, being that it is on the island there, and it is actually part of the original one of the farms that that was here before the park was established, and it was a caretaker's home prior to becoming part of the state park, and now is a rentable facility for us. And that's available year-round to rent. Our camping cottages are only open during our camping season, which is mid-April till mid-December. And right now, the park is working with the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps. We have received some funding, and we'll be getting some some help from those young folks to rebuild a yurt. We used to have two yurts, but they had lived their life, and we had a private donor that was also interested in seeing a yurt being rebuilt. So they gave $15,000 to help that process along. So my staff is right now working to construct a yurt. So we anticipate for the 2027 season we will have a yurt again. And if you don't know what a yurt is, it is a round canvas tent. And inside, amenities wise, it will have a refrigerator. It has a cooktop. It does not have running water. It'll have bunk bed style bedding inside, so a nice place to spend the time. Yurts are very popular. Folks love coming out and just a unique experience. Different way to get out and and enjoy the outdoors. Definitely, that again is in the campgrounds. So it is typically through our camping season when those are available as well.

And how many campsites do you have?

We have over 200 campsites. I think the number is actually 201 campsites here. We have a variety of amenities in our camping, from primitive type camping with no electric, just a campsite for your 10 tour dry camping in your small camper. We have full service campsites. We have electric only campsites as well, and some of our sites are designated as pet sites, so if you have a family friend or pet that you want to bring along, you're you're welcome to do that as well on some of those designated sites.

Now I remember that you have some areas in your campground that allow for like larger family groups. I forget the terminology.

So we have two sites that are titled Great Gathering Friends and Family Sites. So they are essentially a double campsite that is rented as one, and you can put two campers RVs on the campsite itself. There's a large living space between where those campers are set up. Folks can also put up tents. They accommodate up to 15 people. Our normal campsites are up to five folks. So if you have a a friend or a family member that you like to come camping with, it makes it easier because you only need to rent one spot, and then you get to to camp side by side. So they're laid out very nice. Those were developed, I believe, they've been in place about three years now, and they're very popular. They're they are open to pet camping, and they are full service campsites. Oh, wonderful! That you want to pull on there, you have water, sewage, and electric on those campsites as well.

And you had something that you're working on that isn't ready for this camping season, but can we chat about

it? Absolutely. So we are developing another form of of camping. I think it's something that's been happening in the private sector for quite some time. But the official name isn't hasn't been decided upon yet. I've been calling them buddy sites because that's what they're called in the private sector. So it's similar to the great gathering sites that we have, but a smaller footprint. So it allows two campers if you have an RV or a travel trailer. Essentially, they pull in opposite direction of one another. So when you set up your camper, your awnings are facing each other, your doors are facing each other, and then there's a smaller shared living area in between. Those will also be rented as one campsite. So if again, if you're camping with a friend or. A buddy, a family member. You just have to make the one reservation, and then you have two space for two campsites or two campers on this campsite.

I think that's very exciting. I've shared it with some of the folks that we camp with, and because we always are side by side, and you're always running around, and then you're always debating, well, whose campsite are you going to be in tonight? You know, for cooking, and

yeah, we just went camping for nearly or a little bit over a week with some friends in another state park, and that was the like. Who's who's fire are we having tonight, and you know who's cooking tonight, and where are we moving the things to? So to have this space would be a pretty nice.

That's exciting.

Yeah,

and that's you're anticipating that for the 2027 camping season,

we hope so.

Yeah, fingers crossed. But check the website.

Did work through the construction process and the permitting process for some things. But yes,

so to place us in the landscape, you know, we're at Shawnee State Park. Where is that in the landscape of Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania. So we're in South Central Pennsylvania, kind of at the foothills to the Allegheny Mountains here in Bedford County. Bedford is a beautiful place, lots of history in the town of Bedford and the county itself. And again, as I mentioned earlier, you can see the Allegheny Plateau from here. So it's a beautiful location. Lots of rolling hills in the area, and then you can jump up not too far from here is the Laurel Highlands. So half hour, 45 minutes, you can be to some pretty popular destinations in the Laurel Highlands as well from Shawnee, which is great.

So in addition to all the things you have to do here at the park, we'll continue to dive into those. There's lots of things outside of the park to do. If you have a rainy day, you can pop into a museum, or you can pop into a quaint little downtown and do a little shopping, or

correct. Yeah, Bedford's a beautiful little town. It's about 15 minutes away from the park, so that's one of the locations. Again, yeah, if you have a rainy day or you're really interested in history, art, there's also quite a few covered bridges in Bedford County. There's a tour of the covered bridges, so I want to say there might be 19, but I'm not exactly sure. I haven't done the tour myself, but there's one that exists actually on the border of the park. It's the Calvin Covered Bridge, and that's a pretty neat piece of history. And there's a lot more of those around the county. So,

isn't it always true that we don't generally do the things that are in our neighborhood, we need to do staycations and look at our our own neighborhoods through the eyes of a visitor.

Right? Yeah. Yeah. I live in a place where people come on vacation, and and my family reminds me of that pretty frequently. But we often go other places because we want to explore different things, but we don't always see exactly everything that's here in our backyard.

Yeah, yeah. Until somebody comes to visit, and then you you take them to see it, and then you get to have the opportunity to see it yourself. Here at the park, you also have a lot of history. You have a lot of Indigenous people interpretation. You have mounts. Can we talk about the history here at Shawnee State Park?

Yes. So I've been working at the park for nearly five years now, and I've learned a lot about the history. I certainly don't see myself as an expert on the history here at the park, but it was played a big role in a lot of things throughout the development of our country and Pennsylvania. Historic Forbes Road was believed to go through right right through the park, we actually have a trail that exists in the park that's broken up into several different segments as the Forbes Trail, believed to have been part of the original. I didn't realize that the Forbes Road, which was important part of the the history of of America, right? And then you know Shawnee itself, the Shawnee, the Native Americans, the Shawnee, were around the area. It was called Shawanese Cabins at one point in time, and I don't think that they inhabited the area full time. But they didn't move through the area and spend time around us, and that's why we have a lot of Native American artifacts that have been found inside the park. We had an educator here at the park. His name was Ron Barlick. For 51 seasons, Ron was was the educator here, and history was his thing. I mean, he loved talking about it, learning about it, and educating our visitors about the public, our our public visitors about the the history of the park here. And he found over his his years, he he amassed quite a collection of Native American artifacts that are on display here in our historical interpretive center. And right now, we're working through a process with our OPS section, the Outdoor Programming Services section, to kind of revitalize and finalize our collection here. So we had the outdoor core was actually in the spring for a week, cataloging and researching some of the artifacts that we have at the park to put a little more history and learn more of that story behind the artifacts that we have. So we hope to in the future be able to develop some newer exhibit. That can display and interpret that that history here at the park.

Now you have an environmental educator, and are they doing historic interpretation as well as environmental education?

Yes, George Barner is our educator now at the park. This is his second season here, and he does a wide variety of programs, including historical programs as well at the park. So on Sunday evening, he is doing a history of Shawnee State Park program. So I'm excited to see what he's he's dug up in the history and learned throughout his time here, and present that to the public. So moving on in in the history type of thing, the park was established in 1951. This is actually the 75th anniversary of Shawnee State Park, and there was a lot of farmland in the area that accomplishes the park now. That became obviously became the park. So the dam was built in 1951 as recreation and flood control, and obviously established the lake that we have now. So lots of land was previously farmland. One of those farms that became part of the park was the Bowman Farm. He had a John Bowman was the chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh at one point in time. He owns this property here. Big portion of the park was his prior to becoming the state park. It was the Water Brooks Dairy Farm. It was the name of the farm that that John Boomin operated here in the park. So,

yeah, I forgot that it was your 75th anniversary, and I know you have a friends group that are you all are working together to celebrate that 75th anniversary. What are some of the plans?

So, right now, the friends group has a 75k challenge. It's a virtual 75k that you can participate in. Sign up online for that through RunSignup.com and get that information there. But if if you participate, you get some swag, some nice 75th Shawnee 75th anniversary swag. I believe they've got a a medal when you complete it, a nice little canvas tote bag and some stickers and other items that that go along with that as well. And we were working towards on october 17, which was the date in 1951 that the park was dedicated to have a little bit of a celebration. And plans are still in process for that right now, as far as how much we're going to have going on, but we're going to have a celebration to commemorate the 75th anniversary on October 17th, which happens to be a Saturday. So it worked out very well.

Did work out well. It doesn't always do that. And we'll make sure what we link so that your Facebook page, your website, the friends' information is all in the show notes, so people can can monitor that if they want to participate. If someone only had one day here at Shawnee, what would you recommend that they do? I

would say if you only have a day to spend at Shawnee, get around the Lake Shore Trail, probably check out Field Trail at least to the the Overlook. You could spend a little bit of time on the water or by the water fishing. We have a pretty good fishery here at the park, warm water fishery. So anything from panfish, bass. There are walleye, and even musky in the lake, just to name a few of the the species that you can catch here. And then we can also get out on the water. And if you don't have your own boat, we do have a boat rental, a third party that has a boat rental concession here. They have paddle boards, canoes, kayaks, and also pedal boats that you can go out on.

Nice. And if you're traveling, if you have a family with young kids, what do you recommend

as far as activities to do? Yes. I mean, again, I got to go back to the Lake Shore Trail. It's a pretty mild walk and a beautiful walk to get around. And again, if you have young ones that may be in strollers, it's ideal for that as well. There are a few playgrounds around the park as well. One by our beach. We do have a nice swimming beach, so if it's a hot day, you can get out and cool off a little bit in the wonderful waters of Shawnee Lake. And then again, there are a few playgrounds. One of them being at the beach. There's a small playground in the campground as well, some swing sets around, and there's also some volleyball courts here at the park as well.

Oh, nice! Yeah. Any other type of sports equipment?

There is a nine-hole disc golf course at the park, and it's it's located pretty near to the lake, so you get some pretty nice views of the lake as well. It's a par three disc golf course, so it's I would say it's a beginner's course, but it's fun. If you don't have discs, our concessionaire also, who does the boats, can rent you some discs if you want to come out and try that.

So you don't need to have your own equipment. You can you can rent the equipment once you get here. Is there any part of the park that visitors often overlook that you would recommend that they they visit.

Yeah, I mean everybody wants to know that, right? Where what's the coolest thing that that maybe is not super easy to get to, or or just has been overlooked? I would say some of our our hiking trails where you get out a little bit further from that Lakeshore Trail, Forbes Trail, and. Pigeon Hills and Tidy Trail make a nice loop. Definitely a little more challenging on on the hiking side of things. Those trails are also open to biking as well, but a lot of ups and downs there. So much get spectacular views, but it's a really peaceful area of the park, and no other development in those areas. That's definitely something to take a look at. And then we also have going back to our overnight. I forgot to mention that we have an organized group tenting area that's designed for folks that are part of an organized group, like scouting or church groups. Sometimes school groups use those those areas as well. So it is a primitive camping area. It's just open to folks with for tents, but it sits along the lake, I know its own little spot, so you're you're not in the campground proper. It's a separate area of the lake, and that's it. Really, is a beautiful area to get out and spend a couple nights if you're able to do that with an organized group.

So that sounds lovely. One of the things that I like when I visit a place is just to play places for quiet contemplation, just where I can sit and and listen to the birds, or just sit and be. Do you have any places that you recommend for quiet contemplation?

Sure, we have. I mean, lots of picnic areas around the park, and Shawnee itself is pretty quiet, so there are plenty of areas with picnic benches and just some benches around that lakeshore trail where you can just sit and contemplate. There's a beautiful open spot down by our dam, several picnic tables down there. That really is a spectacular view as well of the lake itself. And again, from there you can see the Allegheny Plateau and then some of the the historic buildings on that that barn from the boom and or from the island on the from the boom and farm you can see those as well so it's

yeah

really a spectacular view and springtime is a wonderful time to come to Shawnee because we have lots of flowering trees around including lots apple trees around the the lake itself, that in the springtime are just spectacular when they're in bloom. You know, that's usually like early April to mid April when that's that's occurring here, depending on the the what. I was going to say,

except maybe this year, the weather and

the temperatures. Right, significant amount of redbud trees around it. They're just

they're so pretty,

really beautiful when they're in bloom. Yeah, if if you can come out to Shawnee and early to mid April, it's a good chance you'll catch when everything's in bloom here, and it really is spectacular. And a lot of that's around the lake as well.

I I would imagine with the the body of water, you're good for like waterfowl watching, and you know really any type of bird watching because you have such a large property. Do you find that that's a popular activity here?

Absolutely. Wildlife watching is, particularly birds and waterfowl, is very popular in the spring and fall time during migration season. We do get a significant amount of of birds, including waterfowl, that stop over on the lake, and sometimes large numbers of tundra swans stop by in the hundreds. That's something that, timing-wise, very weather-dependent. But early, late, late winter, early spring, when when those birds are moving through during spring migration, in the springtime we do get significant number of bald eagles and osprey that frequent the lake were not aware of any nests in the area or right on the lake itself. This spring, in particular, one of our folks that that lives local and posts a lot on Facebook about his wildlife watchings said that he saw 41 bald eagles in one day. That would have been, I want to say, sometime in March. But we had a tremendous amount.

I was not aware that you had such a migration through here.

Yeah, yeah. So that's awesome. It is a very important flyway, being where along the Allegheny Front, and not far from the park also is the Allegheny Hawk Watch, that's operated by the Audubon Society, and that's something that the public is is welcome to go up and and take a look at as well. So up on the Allegheny Plateau is is where that that is, and you can see the the lake from up there and witness a whole bunch of really neat birds, including raptors that are are using the the Allegheny Front as a flyway during migration times.

Don't golden eagles utilize that flyway too? So it's an opportunity to see an eagle you may not normally see.

Yeah, yeah. One of our visitors told me they believe they saw a golden eagle in the park this spring. I've not seen that myself. They're so cool. Be overly surprised by that. So

yeah, yeah. I knew about the hawk watch, but in my head, I wasn't making that connection that they were so close together.

We get, I mean, other common waterfowl that you would see during migration. Of course, Canada geese. We have loons that stop by cormorants, egrets, a whole host of different waterfowl. That you can see during springtime in particular, but fall is also a neat time to see some migration going coming through. We've had some instances where there have been some pretty rare sightings during migration time. One of them was a pelican that had, I believe, had been blown off course because of storms. Not something that we would see commonly. That was several years ago, and then I think two or three years ago there was a shorebird called a limpkin that was spotted at the lake. I think there may have been several of them actually, and that that generated a lot of interest in the local birding community here. I

would imagine

again, not something that you typically see in this area. So pretty neat for folks to be able to see

every time someone says the word pelican, I think of this. There was a an older woman one time. She said to me, "A funny bird, a pelican. His mouth can hold more than his belly can. So it always comes right into my head. And dare I say, there's a rather large swan on the lake right now. Oh yes, very very

big. It holds up to five people, I believe. Sorry, yeah, our boat rental concessionaire has purchased and now rents a a Swan pedal boat. So that has been very popular, and they I think they have that open for reservations if you're coming on a weekend and want to make sure you can get out on that as well. So I'm sure Marcy can give some information for our boat rental on the podcast,

I sure can. I sure can. We mentioned that you have a friends group. Can we talk a little bit about what a friends group does here at the park for you? Yeah.

So a friends group is a group of volunteers here. They're dedicated to helping us out. It is the Friends of Shawnee and Blue Knob State Parks. So they do a lot of things at Blue Knob. In addition to Shawnee, they have regularly, regularly scheduled monthly meetings that switch between the parks. They do a monthly hike again that switches between the parks. Those are the monthly hikes are the second Wednesday of each month, and the meetings occur on the third Thursday of each month at the park, the Friends Group supports the park in many ways by helping out with events, coordinating some things, and also with on the financial side of things, raising money to help purchase items for the park. And we're working towards potentially an ADA kayak launch right now with the Friends Group. You know the the park has lots of needs, and it's it's difficult within the confines of a budget to obviously to to sometimes procure those needs. So the friends groups help out with with that type of stuff. They do some event planning and put on some events at the park. In August, we have an annual event coming up, art in the park where they invite local artists to display lots of different types of artwork, usually focused around wildlife and then the scenery here in the local area. There is a painting party that occurs with a local artisan that folks can can register for. They have a 5k that occurs during that that weekend as well. And forgive me, I don't remember what the dates are right now, but it is middle of August when we have art in the park. The Friends Group also sponsors movie nights at both of the parks, so they show a a nice film, something that you would see have have seen in a movie theater in the past, but usually you know nature related themed something along those lines, like Yogi Bear, or I can't remember the other movies that they've done, but that's an outdoor movie that we do at our amphitheater here, and same thing at Blue Knob. That event for Shawnee is coming up on october 17, which is the celebration of the 75th anniversary here.

As always, check the calendar of events either on PPFF's website because we also list the friends group events and check the DCNR calendar of events, and know that you don't need to be a camper in a state park in order to participate in any of the education programs or events that are being held by friends groups. And it's a great way if you're not familiar with a place to get introduced to it. So keep an eye on calendars. So, if you're thinking about visiting a place and you'd like to feel a little bit more acquainted, it's a great way to get acquainted.

It is with

place.

The friends group also helps us organize and implement some cleanups and trail workdays. So, folks want to get involved and volunteer in different ways. We sponsored a the friends group with us sponsored a trail work day where we did some tread work and drainage work on that historic Forbes Trail beginning of June and then usually around Earth Day we generally sponsor with the friends group a cleanup event or picking up roadside trash and beautifying the park and in different ways it's not just all litter pickups, but that's part of it. It's an important part of it.

It is an important part of it. And if you're listening to this in 2026, we're going to be here from September 26 till October 4th. With during Healthy Lands Week, doing a lot of different projects throughout the park work, and we invite volunteers from. Over the state, or even outside of the state, to join us and participate in those. Some of them are beautification, tree plantings, fish habitat instruction, some trail work. So, doing a lot of different things to improve the visitor experience and improve the habitat here at the park. So, keep your eye out for some additional information. Come out and join us. It'll be a lot of fun. There'll be some education programs as well. So, because all work and no play is not good. So, we want you to have fun and learn and and you know get connected this to to this amazing place. As we start to wrap up, what do you hope listeners understand about Shawnee after hearing this conversation?

It's definitely worth coming out and taking a look, spending a little bit of time at our park. Whether you're a local and maybe you've never been, as we talked earlier, you don't might not appreciate the things that are in your your backyard. Although a lot of the local community does enjoy our park, which is really nice to see, but it's a beautiful place to come visit, relax, unwind, and just enjoy the the nature of the scenery, and you can get out and you can be active, or you can sit back at the campsite, relax, and then enjoy just the sounds of nature. If that's what you like to do,

thank you, Jim. It's wonderful to be here and to talk to you, and I love your enthusiasm for for this place and all the work that you've done, and where your vision is going for the future. So, thank you for your work, and thank you to your staff as well.

We do have a great staff at the park, and I would like to thank them as well for their dedication and pride that they take in the work that they do here at the parks.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

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