Sunday, September 28, 2008

Meeting! Wed Oct 8 at 5pm

Just a reminder that there will be a Friends of the Gorge meeting next Wednesday at 5 PM in Fernow 304.

Agenda:
1. Sign forms for campus registration
2. Meet new members
3. Recap from last meeting
4. Recap from meeting with Cliff Kraft (Dan)
5. Recap from meeting with Todd Cowan (Kara)
6. Plan next steps

Hopefully Gary Stewart will be there as well. I am still waiting to hear back.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Welcome to the Blog for Friends of the Gorge

Hey all,

It's Evan Mulvihill, "treasurer" of Friends of the Gorge (FotG?), previously known as Friends of Fall Creek. I hope this will be a place where we post minutes of meetings, our progress on our assigned tasks, and perhaps even idle banter.

What is Friends of the Gorge? Our advisor, Professor Marianne Krasny, provided the following explanation of our mission and goals:

"Friends of Fall Creek is a student organization whose mission is to develop and help implement management plans for the campus gorges. We will start with the section of Fall Creek on the Cornell campus (between the Triphammer and Stewart Avenue bridges). Students will come up with recommendations and solutions to address: (1) deteriorating condition of trails; (2) trash dumping into the gorge; (3) student safety (in light of three student drownings, suicides, and accidental falls); and (4) access to this important recreational resource for the Cornell community.

The current Cornell policy of fencing off the stairs to the Creek to ensure safety is not effective. In the short time the fence has been in existence, it has been repeatedly vandalized so that students are continuing to swim in the Creek. Students are best suited to come up with creative ways to deal with issues related to preserving recreational opportunities that have long been part of the Cornell experience and tradition, while paying attention to critical safety concerns.

For information about joining the Friends of Fall Creek student organization, please contact Professor Marianne Krasny at mek2@cornell.edu."