Members of the Friends of Hamlin Beach State Park are adjusting to recent changes regarding their volunteer work at the former CCC/POW Camp site.
In mid-July, Hamlin Beach State Park Manager Kate Gross notified volunteers that grounds maintenance operations by volunteers at the site were being temporarily suspended on the advice of supervising attorney Kathleen Martens in the Agency Counsel’s Office.
Volunteers were told they could not use or store personal equipment at the site – which they have been doing for seven years since being asked by then Park Manager Marty Howden to help clear the overgrown site and work towards creating a history trail. Gross wrote via an email that because of liability issues, work could only be done by members of the Friends Group – if they have signed Volunteer Service Agreements and are authorized by park officials to use Friends Group owned equipment or parks equipment and are supervised by park officials on site. Volunteers would additionally need to be trained/approved by the Region’s Health and Safety Manager to use power equipment and tools.
Park staff has been completing grounds maintenance while park officials work with the Counsel’s Office to determine the appropriate level of insurance coverage that is needed for possible grounds maintenance operations to resume, Gross wrote.
Ed Evans, who spearheaded the work to clear and maintain the site, says he is disappointed and discouraged by the sudden change.
“I do not think any additional insurance will be purchased,” he says, and explains that he hopes to be able to continue to give tours of the site to the public.
“So far, they have not tried to keep anyone off the site,” he says. “I don’t think they can keep me from walking around the site with members of the public who want to visit. I will certainly continue to work with any area school that wants to use our work as a teaching experience.”
He says his talks – given to area school children and community groups – will now include the story about the work stoppage.
Evans is happy to report that park officials have begun to remove garbage dumps at the site. The park had been using a portion of the CCC/POW Camp site to dump garbage but Evans says it is now being moved. “It is a big operation,” he says, “…(there’s a) dumpster … (they) bulldozed a turn around for the trucks.”
He adds that he has received an email from the head of the Historic Preservation part of the park system, “… thanking me for the information I have been sending her. She probably is responsible for the order to remove the dumps.”
Friends of Hamlin Beach State Park acting president Dale Jennejahn says volunteers have not been “thrown out” of the site.
“We will continue to be involved,” he says, “these are minor things, there have been a few rules changes.”
He says liability issues should probably have been tackled years ago when work first began at the site. “No one else looked into this,” he says, and adds that Park Manager Kate Gross, “has been really, really helpful in working with us. We are dealing with the liability issue.”
Jennejahn explains that there is no reason volunteers cannot go on to the site to work as long as they notify park officials and use park equipment. He says he is very grateful for all that has been accomplished by volunteers at the site.
“I extend to them a huge thank-you for all the work they have done over the years,” he says. “They have done a good job.”
