Looking Back… and Looking Ahead - Thank You for Your Support!

Dear Friend of R. B. Winter State Park, Thank you for choosing to get involved with the Friends of R. B. Winter State Park. Through the generosity of our supporters — like you — the Friends Group has been able to advance its mission and provide resources that enhance the Park we all care about so deeply. Here are just a few examples of the types of things that have been accomplished through Volunteer Work Days, financial contributions, event attendance, and fundraising since the Group was established in the summer of 2021:

• A new AED and pads were purchased, allowing park rangers to respond swiftly in the case of an emergency facing a visitor of R. B. Winter State Park

• A four-mile stretch of Route 192 has been adopted, and three litter clean-ups have been held

• An excavator/digger toy was purchased for the Park playground and mulch has been replaced

• Several benches were purchased to increase accessibility to prominent trails and a maintenance project was completed on the Rapid Run Nature Trail

• Many people have found camaraderie and connection among members of the surrounding communities who have attended programs, hikes and events

You can help us keep up the good work, and achieve even more, by continuing to support the efforts of the Friends of R. B Winter State Park. If you have already shown your support by taking the steps below — THANK YOU! If you are looking for opportunities to increase your involvement, we invite you to:

• Attend a future Volunteer Work Day. We will meet for the next one at the Environmental Learning Center on Saturday, May 20, 9am-noon.

• Make a tax-deductible donation or become a lifetime supporter by visiting: friendsofrbwinter.org/donate.

• Follow us on Facebook or Instagram, read our blog and share our posts.

• Encourage friends, family members, colleagues and neighbors to subscribe to our email list.

• Join us for upcoming events such as R. B. Winter State Park’s annual SummerFest which will take place on Saturday, June 24, from noon-4pm. The Friends Group will be sponsoring several programs, selling merchandise and greeting visitors during SummerFest 2023.

Also, did you hear?

• The Friends Group is now handling the sale of some of the merchandise in the Park Office. There are stickers, magnets, vehicle decals, hats, nature-themed jewelry, Purple Lizard Maps and more!

• The Friends Group has just begun offering firewood for sale in the family campground. Bundles of firewood are $8.00 each and can be purchased at our firewood shed across from campsite #60 near the campground entrance.

• Proceeds from the sale of merchandise and firewood, as well as donations, will allow the Friends to further our goals of providing resources for projects and promoting education, responsible recreation and stewardship for present and future generations at the R. B. Winter State Park Complex.

We are grateful for the collective efforts of our many supporters and look forward to what we will accomplish together in the year ahead! Thank you for being a Friend, Mary Marshall Chair, Friends of R. B. Winter State Park P.S. As Friends, we already know that R. B. Winter State Park is a special place, but it was exciting to see the news of its recent recognition from the Pennsylvania Park & Forest Foundation (PPFF).

R. B. Winter Selected as the 2023 Pennsylvania State Park of the Year!

On Tuesday night, at the 14th Annual Parks and Forests Awards Banquet the staff of R. B. Winter State Park were presented with the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation Park of the Year Award!

If you were unable to attend the banquet read you can read the write-up from the award ceremony below.

The Park of the Year Award is designed to recognize a park for their exemplary or innovative work in any or all of the following: customer service; education, programming (e.g., events), or recreation; stewardship of the natural, cultural, or historic assets; and/or accommodation of special needs of visitors.

Raymond B. Winter State Park is a picturesque state park that encompasses 695 acres at the western edge of Union County. The park is rich in history and is surrounded by thousands of acres of Bald Eagle State Forest. This is a visitor-friendly park that has boundless recreational opportunities and a staff focused on customer service.

The park was purchased in 1905, and some recreational amenities were constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), along with a dam that created Halfway Lake, the focal point of the park. The lake is stocked with trout and is filled by spring-fed mountain streams. The lake features a 300-foot white sand beach popular with visitors wanting to escape the heat of the Susquehanna Valley. A total of 8.58 miles of hiking trails and a 61-site campground also entice the more than 137,000 annual visitors. The park is also complexed with Ravensburg, Sand Bridge and McCalls Dam state parks.

In late May of 2019, a microburst snapped off hundreds of trees in the park, closing the trails and even destroying buildings, but because of the hard-working staff and the help of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps the storm damage was quickly cleaned up and the park made ready for visitors.

Speaking of visitors, the park plays host to family reunions, school groups, college groups, and others, being conveniently located in the Susquehanna Valley. Park staff can be seen about the park, making all visitors feel welcomed and addressing needs.

This winter the park once again experienced storm damage, bringing down numerous trees that resulted in multi-day power outages. Again the staff quickly got to work on the cleanup process. More recently, the park decided to advance their volunteer program by working with PPFF to start a new friends group. Together they are working to improve the park and host programs, such as the snowless 2023 winter festival.

We applaud the park (and their friends) for being stewards of this iconic park, R.B. Winter State Park.

A Bald Eagle in the evening at R. B. Winter State Park

I stopped by the Park last night to check on the firewood shed and then headed to the lake in hopes of seeing a Green Heron that had been spotted there on Saturday. The Heron was nowhere to be seen but I did spy the Bald Eagle sitting in his perch over the beach. Ranger Steve dropped by and we got to see him do a circuit of the lake before landing at the beach to splash about in the water for a minute just before the rain began.