Our fall color hike will be held on October 11 at 9 am.  We will hike the Fort Custer Cemetery section of trail that we are just about ready to open, and utilize our hikers to critique the trail so we can make any fixes needed before our anticipated Grand Opening in May. This section is about 2 ½ miles long, will take a couple hours, and will be held rain or shine.  Hikers wishing to continue will hike an additional 3.4 miles after repositioning cars, from Hutchinson parking lot to the Kellogg Forest parking lot.  We will meet at the corner of M-96 (aka Dickman Road), and Fort Custer Drive, located about ½ mile east of the Augusta Drive intersection with M-96 in Augusta, and then carpool to the start of the hike on Armstrong Road. (See mini map next page.)

As part of their efforts in gathering interpretive information for a future interpretive trail guide Christy Stewart and Barb VanDyken are leading a hike starting from Norris Road to McKibben Road beginning at 9:00 am. This hike will focus on geology, and will be held rain or shine (2.5 miles –2 to 3 hours). See directions for breakfast in the next article.  To get to the trailhead from Delton, head west from Delton to Prairieville, and then head north on Norris Road. The trailhead is on the east side of the road, just past the big brown North Country Trail road sign.  To get to the trailhead from Hastings, head west and follow M-43 after it splits from M-37, just briefly, and then go west on M-179 to Yankee Springs Road.  Turn south on Yankee Springs Road, follow it past Gun Lake Road 0.4 miles (it changes name to Norris Road) and you will see the big brown North Country Trail road sign.

At the October 25 work session, we will be joining the interpretive hike, and doing a little trail work on that section. We will meet for breakfast at Bailey’s Anchor Inn at 8:00 am, and then get to the Norris Road trailhead by 9:00 am.  Bailey’s Anchor Inn is located on 12441 West M-179 (Chief Noonday Road) north of Gun Lake, about 4 miles west of Yankee Springs Road.

I have no information on the fall hike. We were looking for an evening with a full moon, which would match up with November 8. Check our web site for any updates.

For the November 15 work session, we will be scouting the section of trail between Kimball Pines County Park and Bridge Park to review plans for puncheoning and bridges. We will meet for breakfast at the McDonalds on 1160 Michigan Avenue East at 8:00 am, and then heading to the back parking area of Kimball Pines at 9:00 am.

A board meeting is scheduled for November 8 at 9:00am at the Lakeside Cafe at 209 S. Webster Street in Augusta. All members are invited.

Celebrate autumn, the season of harvest, at MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) and the W. K. Kellogg Forest on Sunday, Oct. 19 from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. This year’s Share the Harvest program features activities for the whole family during open houses at the Kellogg Forest, KBS Education Center’s Kellogg Manor House, Kellogg Bird Sanctuary and Kellogg Farm Dairy Center. A donation of a nonperishable food item to replenish area food banks is requested.  Check out the following web site for more information and directions, just click here!  or call 269-671-2263.

66 members are getting the newsletter via email only, helping to save costs. Thanks for your help.

Learn how to attract and enjoy the beauty of our winter birds by attending a Winter Bird Feeding workshop, Saturday, November 8 at MSU's Kellogg Bird Sanctuary. The Bird Sanctuary is located at 12685 East C Ave., just west of 40th St. and one mile north of M-89.

Participants can attend an 11 a.m. session, or a repeated session at 1 p.m. Workshop leaders and local conservationists Bill and Pat Stovall will focus on which birds stay here over the winter and what they eat. Participants will learn about different birdfeeder designs and where to place them in their yard. The program fee, which includes sanctuary admission, is $6 for adults, $4 for children (ages 2 to 12) and $5 for senior citizens (age 65 and older).  An assortment of birdfeeders will be available for purchase with prices starting at $9. Children are invited to make a pinecone birdfeeder at the end of each workshop. Prepaid registration for the workshop is required. For more information, call the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary at 269-671-2510.

New Members: The following are new members of our Chapter; please join me in extending a welcome to all of them:

• Patt Bartig - Augusta

• Bob Sacksteder -Vicksburg

I tend to put a lot of internet addresses in the newsletter where members can find more information. For those members who do not have internet access at home or work, I would recommend checking them out at your local library.

Chuck Hayden of the Fortune Bay Expeditionary Team gave an interesting presentation on the activities of the FBET at our meeting last night.  Much information about their activities can also be seen at their web site: www.fortunebaycompany.com You are also invited to receive information about their upcoming activities and training workshops.

The NCTA five year strategic plan can be seen by clicking here!

The following link provides an interesting history of the Fort Custer Cemetery, and you may want to give it a quick look before the fall color hike by clicking here!

Newsletter Editor:  Larry Pio   nalcoman1@aol.com