Dave Riebel, 67, remembers growing up near what is now known as the east loop of the Lehigh Portland Trails built on the site of a former cement plant and quarry.
It was a bit hazardous back then.
He recalled playing cowboys and Indians when he was 12, and he rested his arm on something he thought was a rock. It turned out to be a water moccasin that couldnt help but bite me, twice, Riebel said. Three years later, he was bitten by a copperhead while hunting not far from the same site.
The area looked much different, too. More Johnson grass, fewer trees and brush. Quarry operators were still dynamiting then, so much of the current trail area remained off limits.
Now, the land south and east of Elm Creek feels as familiar to Riebel as it did when he was a child. As a volunteer with Thrive Allen County, Riebel helps build the gravel-surfaced trails and single track trails, utilizing his experiences as a welder and mechanic to build bridges and contraptions to make the job a little easier.
Damaris Kunkler, community engagement director with Thrive, calls Riebel The MacGyver of the trails for his ability to solve problems in creative ways.
Riebel, working with local trail experts like Dave Fontaine and Randy Rasa, encountered a variety of challenges when they tried to build trails over land that had become a woody wilderness. Large equipment couldnt always reach the places they needed to clear. He and Fontaine used discarded metal forms from B&W Trailer Hitches of Humboldt and pipes to create a sort of slough box on skids to pull behind a tractor and spread a limestone screening on the trail.
In some places, other volunteers had cut trees too short to remove without a stump grinder, which they didnt always have available. Riebel eventually figured out how to dig under the stumps, attach a chain between the stump and a large tree, and pull.
After he retired in February 2016, he offered to work on the trail as a full-time volunteer. He and Fontaine were honored as Thrives volunteers of the year in 2016. He celebrated his 65th birthday with a surprise party on the trail, organized by other volunteers.
Riebel said he felt a special connection to the trails and was compelled to help. I think its because I grew up out there.
During his work on the trail, Riebel made a special discovery. Hed once secured old telephone wires to give to his father for use as an electric fence to keep cows from drinking out of the quarry. As Riebel cut brush for the trails, he discovered that old telephone wire, often with trees grown and twist around it. He dug it out and took it to be recycled.
Thats kind of neat, Riebel said.
THRIVE HELPED secure funding and volunteers to build much of Iolas trail system in recent years, but a three-year Community Engagement Initiative that ends April 30 encouraged people like Riebel to take an active role in various community improvement projects.
The program met with local residents to identify key areas to improve, with Safe and Clean Green Spaces as one of six priorities. The goal was to provide safe, clean, accessible parks, trails, bike paths and other infrastructure. Thrive trained residents to lead projects and helped obtain grant money when needed.
The initiative allowed Thrive to develop a connector link between the Lehigh Portland Trails and the South-wind Trail with access to the Prairie Spirit Rail Trail. Thrive partnered with the City of Iola to secure grants and other types of funding for more than $400,000 to build a pedestrian bridge on Washington Street over Elm Creek, a longtime desire of many in the community thats scheduled to open May 5. Thrive volunteers also introduced a bike share program in Iola and Humboldt.
IN ADDITION to the trail work, Thrive also teamed up with LaHarpe PRIDE to improve the City Park. Richard Luken, a member of the PRIDE committee, worked with Thrive to organize volunteers and add playground equipment; he also wrote a grant to provide rubberized mulch for the equipment.
Park improvements are part of LaHarpe PRIDEs larger community cleanup effort, Luken said. Thrive also helped organize a citywide cleanup, led community conversations to direct volunteer efforts and provided $10,000 toward the playground equipment, with the city chipping in another $10,000 and a discount from the vendor that cut the cost by about $10,000.
Volunteers, including students from the University of Kansas, 4-H members and inmates from the Allen County Jail, came to LaHarpe to clean the community and assemble the playground equipment. Although organizers were hopeful the equipment could be assembled in one weekend, it actually took several weeks before it all came together.
