The Friends of Maybury
The
Friends of Maybury
Maybury Trails and Tales
Newsletter
January-April 2017
Newsletter
Sleeping Through Winter
It’s easy to stay active in winter at Maybury, even when it snows.
Whether you cross country ski, snow shoe, or hike, the trails are always open. Try fat tire biking on the mountain bike trail, or cozy up to
a roaring fire in the trailhead building. Walk the fields and see how
many animal tracks you can identify in the snow. Many animals, such
as deer, rabbits and squirrels, stay active throughout the winter.
What you may not realize while you are on the trails at Maybury this
winter is that there are animals sleeping the season away right underneath your feet. There are several animals that either hibernate, or
“sleep”, through the winter in our part of Michigan. Hibernation may
last several days, weeks or months, depending on the species of animal. Some animals hibernate without stirring throughout the winter;
while others, like chipmunks, wake up occasionally on warmer days to
nibble on nuts or seeds that they have stored in their burrows. Some
animals, such as skunks and raccoons may sleep lightly, even venturing outdoors for a brief period of time during a winter warm spell.
They are not hibernators, as a true hibernator’s body temperature and
metabolic rate drop, and breathing and heart rates slow.
The champion of hibernation
here in our own back yard is
the woodchuck. Woodchucks,
or groundhogs, are a type of
rodent. A woodchuck’s burrow may be as deep as 6 feet,
and 20 feet or longer. It will
include many chambers and
levels, including one for hibernating. A hibernating
woodchuck’s heart beat slows from 80 to as low as 4 beats a minute
and their body temperature may drop from 98 degrees F to as low as
38 degrees F. Breathing may slow from 16 breathes per minute to as
few as 2 breathes per minute. During hibernation they may go up to
150 days without eating, and in northern climates woodchucks may
hibernate from late Fall to early Spring! This is one animal who truly
sleeps through winter!
Calendar of Events
Jan 12
Cross Country Skiing Part 1
Classroom Instruction
Northville District Library
7:00-9:00 PM
Jan 19
Friends Annual Meeting
Northville District Library
7:00 PM
Jan 29
Cross Country Skiing Part 2
8 Mile Entrance –Trailhead Shelter
1:00-3:00 PM
April 15
Northville Eggstravaganza
Maybury Farm
Gates open at 10 AM
Age divided egg hunts begin at
11:00 AM
$5 per car
April
Volunteer Work Day
Spring cleanup!
Time and Day TBD
May 5 and May 6
Wildflower Walks
Meet at the Parking Lot in front of
the Horse Barns, off the Beck Road
Entrance.
10:00-11:00 AM
See our website and Facebook
page for more details.
www.friendsofmaybury.org
Season’s Greetings
from the Maybury Park Supervisor and Staff
The staff of Maybury State Park would like to wish all our users and supporters a safe and happy holiday season. We hope that you will visit the park often during the winter months; we look forward to providing users
with plowed walking/running paths along with groomed ski trails (weather permitting!).
Please let us know how we’re doing with meeting your expectations. We only improve when you provide us
feedback!
Are you wondering how your talents can be of the biggest impact to the operations and improvements at
Maybury State Park? Here are some ways you can
help if you are interested in getting involved.
Beautification - we ar e in need of volunteer s to
assist staff with the selection and planting of plants
around the park entrance signs, around the headquarters office building, and around the contact
stations. If you love to plant and have a green
thumb let us know. Master Gardeners are welcome!
Education –do you belong to a group that would
be interested in learning more about the park? We
welcome the opportunity to inform the surrounding
communities about the great assets of Maybury
State Park. Our staff is happy to meet with user
groups, scout troops, community and service organizations to promote the park and educate all about our facilities and trails.
Period Preservation of the Headquarters building – Our staff building was built in 1929 as the home for
the Maybury Sanitarium physician. The building has some classic structural characteristics, but staff could
use some ideas that preserve the period, and make the building more functional as a headquarters office until
a new one is constructed.
Donations needed - We are looking for the following items to be donated: a gas powered golf/utility vehicle
and metal shelfing units.
We’d love to put your special talents to work here at Maybury State Park! Give us a call (248) 349-8390 or
stop by the Headquarters at 20145 Beck Road.
With every best wish for a great holiday,
Traci Sincock, Supervisor, and the Staff of Maybury State Park
Thanks to our Volunteers
from the President of the Friends of Maybury
I like to say we are a “small, but enthusiastic group”. We are an all-volunteer group, so we can accomplish
nothing without the generous support and efforts of all our volunteers. As of this writing, the tally is not yet
complete for this year; but, for 2015, we were responsible for 421 individual volunteer opportunities and a
total of 1,060 hours of volunteer work. I take tremendous pride in knowing we’ve accomplished so much for
the Park, and you should too. I wish we could thank everyone involved, but I run the risk of missing so
many people who have also worked behind the scenes in so many ways. You know who you are – thank
you so much.
Our activities fall into a couple of broad categories: 1) hikes, 2) workdays/projects, and 3) events.
Hikes
We conducted family friendly hikes from January to December, including:
 Shoe Year’s Day in January
 Wildflower Walks in May
 Woof Walk in June
 Intro to Geocaching in July
 History Hike in September
 Owl Prowl in December
85 hikers enjoyed a beautiful day at Maybury State Park on Shoe Year’s Day 2016.
Workdays and Projects
We conducted at least eight
workdays last year, including:
 National Trails Day
 Garlic Mustard Pulls
 Trail Maintenance
 Blue Bird Monitoring
Program
 Boardwalk and Fishing
Pier Renovation
 Split Logs for the Fireplace
 Installation of a Mason Bee House
Our volunteers on National Trails Day 2016.
National Trails Day is our most popular work day of the year. We typically
get 50 volunteers for trail maintenance, garlic mustard pulls and various projects.
Events
We led or supported the following events:
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Egg-Stravaganza
Family Fun Campout
July 4th Fishing Derby
Road Runner Classic
Tour de Ville Bike Ride
Howell Nature Center Program
Trick or Treat at Mill Race
Village
Great Pumpkin Festival at
Maybury Farm
Night Sky Over Maybury-Star
Gazing
Pictured above is Egg-stravaganza 2016. This is a huge event for the
park; this year we had about 500 kids and 5000 plastic eggs!
In addition, we have volunteers who contribute so much behind the scenes, including financial records, meeting minutes, writing grant proposals, membership drives, website and Facebook updates, and much more. It
takes a lot of work, but I can tell you it’s rewarding to help the Park. Thanks again to all of our volunteers. If
you’d like to get involved please learn more through our Facebook page or website, and attend one of our
monthly meetings. I think you’ll enjoy it. In any case, we hope to see you in the Park!
Chuck Murdock
Friends of Maybury Annual Meeting on January 19th
We invite all Friends members, and non-members alike, to all of our monthly meetings. A special opportunity to attend is our Annual Membership Meeting, which will be held January 19th from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in
the Northville District Library. We will review our accomplishments for the entire year, and plan our activities for the next few months. Our guest speakers include a local panel of leaders from Maybury Park, Maybury Farm and Northville Parks & Recreation. Each will describe key initiatives in their organizations, and
opportunities for increased cooperation between our three groups.
If you’d like to learn more about the Friends of Maybury, please join us – hope to see you there!
Regional Trailhead Project Update
Design and engineering for the new Regional Trailhead has been completed,
and construction is expected to start in April of this year. As you may remember, the Friends provided half of the funds for this $75,000 project. Commemorative bricks will be placed in the new patio areas near the Trailhead Building
and Kiosk, and we already have about a dozen orders for bricks. If you’d like to
have your brick in place for the grand opening ceremony, please order now
@ www.friendsofmaybury.org or contact us. A brick can make for beautiful
and lasting remembrance, celebration, anniversary, thank you, or recognition.
Sample commemorative brick.
Eagle Scout Projects
Most people do not realize as they walk through Maybury State Park that Eagle Scout projects are all around
them! The Friends of Maybury help fund many of these Eagle Scout projects, often several a year. Here are
just a few of the many Scout Projects in the park that have been added in the last five years.
The following Eagle Scout projects were partially funded by the Friends. The equipment shed at the baseball
field, below left, was installed in 2016. Visible in the background is the home run fence, installed in 2014.
The installation of removable shades for the dugouts on the baseball field was yet another project finished in
2014. Below right, the covered wood rack behind the Trailhead Building was also added in 2014.
Several Eagle Scout projects were intended to provide park staff with facilities to store supplies and equipment. Completed in 2014, the pole barn (below left) is behind the park entrance building, off of Beck Road. It
provides covered storage for heavy machinery. The shed below right, for tools, was a separate project finished in 2013, and is in the maintenance area behind the headquarters building.
Many more Eagle Scout projects not pictured here are scattered through the
park. In 2012 a new bridge over the creek on the Friends Trail was built by a
scout. Numerous bluebird boxes through the park were built and installed by
scouts. And in 2015 the retaining wall in front of the park office was added
by an Eagle Scout.
The most recent Eagle Scout project was the installation of a patio and
landscaping around the flag pole (right) at the 8 Mile entrance to the park.
This was just completed in the last few months.
For scouts interested in inquiring about doing a project in the park, contact
Mike Cutsinger, Lead Ranger, at (248) 416-2747, or at
[email protected]. There is an information sheet which must be
filled out, and all plans have to be approved by the Park Supervisor prior
to starting. If requesting funding help from the Friends of Maybury, a separate form must be filled out, and a project proposal and wrap up must be
presented at a monthly meeting.
The Friends of Maybury are pleased to be able to support Eagle Scouts
and at the same time contribute to the upkeep of the park, and help to provide further facilities for the enjoyment of those who use the park.
Thank you to all the Eagle Scouts who have added improvements to the
park over the last twenty years!
Learn to Cross Country Ski
Have you always wanted to try cross country skiing, but didn’t know where to start? Join us for a free twopart class on how to get started with buying or renting equipment, and how to ski. The first class is on January
12th, from 7-9 PM, and will be held indoors at the Northville District Library. We will cover equipment, clothing, where to buy or rent equipment, what to bring skiing and where to ski, and finally technique. The second
class will be held on January 29th from 1-3 PM, at the park. Join us for an on-snow experience. Bring your
skis! If there is no snow, we’ll go for a hike. We will meet at the Trailhead Building in the park, accessible off
the 8 Mile entrance. Attend both classes, or just one. Everyone is welcome! If you have any questions about
this event please message us on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/friendsofmaybury/.
Ski Maybury
The perfect place for cross country skiing this winter is at Maybury. The terrain is suitable for beginners, but
enjoyable by more advanced skiers. This fall park staff cut back
brush and trees along several lengths of the paved bike trail, which
will be cleared for winter walking and cross country skiing. A
four foot ski trail, groomed with set tracks for classic cross country
skiing will be available for skiers, along with a separate plowed
and cleared lane next to the cross country ski trail for runners and
walkers. Pedestrians can use the plowed side of the trail, but are
urged to leave the groomed side of the trail for skiers, as walking
in groomed ski trails will cause damage to them. The cross country ski trail is not appropriate for skate-skiing or snowshoeing.
There are plans to eventually groom the trail with two sets of
tracks, set side by side. Entry to this trail is at the Eight Mile entrance to the park.
The park is open daily from 8 AM to 10 PM.
Maybury Mystery Challenge
Can you find the object below left on your next walk in the park? Do you know what it is? If yes, feel free to
post the location and explanation on our Facebook page!
The mystery photo in our last newsletter, above right, is an Emerald Ash Borer trap . These traps were set up
as a part of a larger project being conducted by Dr. Deborah McCullough of Michigan State University. The
following explanation is from information provided by Dr. McCullough.
The Emerald Ash Borer is a beetle from Asia which was discovered in Detroit in 2002, but we now know it
arrived in the early 1900s. EAB is now established throughout lower Michigan, parts of upper Michigan and
in areas of at least 25 other states and two Canadian provinces. Millions of ash have been killed by EAB in
Michigan alone. Scientists are concerned that EAB may effectively eliminate ash from forests and landscapes
across much of North America. New EAB infestations are very difficult to identify. Trees with low levels of
EAB usually have no external symptoms.
Dr. McCullough and one of her grad students set up two kinds of traps in 30 different locations across 12
counties in Southeast and South Central Michigan. These traps are designed to test different lures and trap
designs. Scientists have found that EAB beetles are attracted to green and purple, along with compounds produced by ash leaves, wood and bark. They were interested in determining the extent of EAB infestation in an
area, along with white ash tree survival in that same area. The traps are part of a research study to develop
better tools for EAB detection and management across the U.S.
Further information on the Emerald Ash Borer can be found at www.emeraldashborer.info.
Below left is an adult Emerald Ash Borer, and on the right is an EAB larvae. The larvae bores into the bark of
an Ash tree, and feeds on the transportation tissues of the tree. This disrupts the movement of food and water
within the tree, and causes the tree to die.
Yes! I want to be a Friend of Maybury!
Membership and Donation Information
All memberships renew on June 1st of each year. For partial year memberships, submit whatever you deem appropriate. Membership will place you on our email distribution list for meeting and events notification, plus future newsletters.
Join at http://www.friendsofmaybury.org/membership/ OR
Fill out the form below, and mail a check made out to The Friends of Maybury to:
The Friends of Maybury State Park
20145 Beck Road
Northville, MI 48167-1758.
_________$15 Regular Membership
________$25 Family Membership
________$100 Commercial/Benefactor
Name
____________________________________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________________________________
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Email
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The Friends of Maybury is a 501 (c) (3) all-volunteer, charitable organization and your dues and donations are tax deductible. We partner with DNR and other organizations to support the park. All
funds raised are used for specific park improvements, educational opportunities, or for the enjoyment of park visitors.
Friends of Maybury Board Members J ean Bemish, Mar cie Colling, Amy Kostr zewa, Geor ge
McCarthy, Andrea Murdock, Chuck Murdock, Kate Rayner. Newsletter Editor and Contributor Kate Rayner