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Kosciusko County Department of Parks and Recreation Board heard updates on the Chinworth Bridge Trail and a trail project in North Webster during a meeting on Thursday.
Steve Foegley, with Friends of the Trails, said a workday at Chinworth for vegetation maintenance is scheduled for Saturday, April 25, starting at 10 a.m.
"(Board Member) Aggie (Sweeney) and I met last week with Dugan Julian, who is a specialist with the Indiana Cooperative Invasives Management," said Foegley. "There's a mixture of natives we'd like to have and invasives that are scattered throughout. The best way to manage that will be simply to cut everything down and then chemically treat the invasives as they come up. It'll be a multi-year process for all that to happen."
Foegley said Kayla Moore, who's mowed at the Chinworth Trailhead when the property was owned by the Kosciusko County Historical Society, has agreed to continue mowing for 2026 at the cost of $50 per mow. He also said the Friends are looking at the placement of a portable toilet in the trail's vicinity, with the toilet to be serviced by a company that already services toilets at the City-County Athletic Complex. The cost is $125 per month.
The board approved requesting the Kosciusko County Community Foundation transfer $3,000 to the county to pay for mowing and toilet services for six months.
In other business, North Webster Town Council President Dan Thystrup attended the meeting to provide the board with a general update on an ongoing trail project in town.
"We're going from the bridge in the south end of town and up to (Wawasee Middle School)," said Thystrup. "We have been working with a group in Syracuse and they're very excited about it, they're going to meet us at the middle school."
Thystrup said the trail project is in two phases and noted the second phase wouldn't be in the town of North Webster, but in county property. In the future, Thystrup said he'd like the park board's signature of approval when the second phase is closer to being started.
Board member Robert Bishop asked Thystrup if the town had received any concerns from the Indiana Department of Transportation, noting Syracuse got some pushback about how far their trail had to be from Ind. 13.
"We have been using USI (Consultants), and they had it all ready to go," said Thystrup. "I think there was enough room for us to do it with INDOT approval. And they are on board, so to speak."
The board's next meeting is at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 14.
