Valley Forge National Historical Park

National Park ServiceUnited States Department of the Interior

2008 Annual Report

Valley Forge National Historical Park

National Park ServiceUnited States Department of the Interior

2008 was a year of steady progress at Valley Forge National Historical Park.

We are energized and proud of the accomplishments we’ve outlined for you

in this Annual Report.

You’ll see several big priorities reflected over and over in our achievements:

more activities for visitors, improved financial sustainability, and strengthened

stewardship. I am pleased to report that—again this year—visitation rose,

operations were further streamlined to free up funds for visitor services and

preservation, and participation in stewardship of the park by volunteers,

partners, and donors increased.

Our visitors, volunteers, and partners understand the significance of Valley

Forge—the triumph of the encampment, the historic and natural resources of

the land, and the opportunities for learning, enjoyment, and renewal.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions, concerns, or ideas.

What can we do together?

Mike CaldwellSuperintendent

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n The NPS Centennial Challenge,which anticipates the 2016 centennialof the National Park Service, providedfive seasonal interpretive staff thissummer and allowed us to greatlyincrease our public programmingchoices. We increased hours atWashington’s Headquarters andVarnum’s Quarters, offered morewalking tours and living historyprograms, provided interpretiverangers in evening hours, makingnumerous contacts during this heavilyused period of the day and, for thefirst time, offered a ranger-led JuniorRanger program.

n The revitalized Junior Rangerprogram and workbook served 478visitors and resulted in more than 240new Junior Rangers being sworn induring this year’s four-month season.The program focuses on both historyand natural history.

n Our third year of a partnership withOnce Upon A Nation (OUAN) againexpanded programming and visitation.49,000 visitors were served, anincrease of 61% over last year. Story-telling benches were located at theWelcome Center, the NationalMemorial Arch, Washington'sHeadquarters, and Varnum’s Quarters,with new stories based on the researchof historians and park staff. The fee-based evening program, "Valley ForgeAfter Hours," produced in cooperationwith The Encampment Store (TES),served 530 visitors, who weretransported back as members of avisiting congressional delegationchecking on the state of theContinental Army during theencampment. Along the way, actorsportrayed soldiers, Martha Washington,George Washington and Lafayette.Each program concluded with aranger-led campfire and stories nearthe Grand Parade.

n Our cooperating association, TES,ran the fee-based trolley tour of thepark, working with OUAN to provideguides. Over 10,000 people enjoyedthe tours, which ran everyday duringthe summer and on weekends in theshoulder season, an 18% increase invisitors over the previous year.

More Choices for Visitors

Hundreds of families enjoyed expanded natural resource and history

programs through the new Junior Ranger program.

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Photo: NPS

n In the second year of oureducational partnership withMontgomery County CommunityCollege, rangers taught a coursetitled The Unknown AmericanRevolution. Sixty-one persons took thecourse this year.

n Rangers conducted staff rides inthe park for nine different militarygroups in 2008. April 23rd saw thelargest concentration of high-rankingUS Army field officers at Valley Forgesince the 1778 encampment, when 32colonels and general officers from FortBelvoir participated.

n We participated in the HistoryChannel-sponsored project for highschool juniors entitled, Now DebateThis. The project engaged high schooljuniors from around the country whoresearched and interviewed communitymembers and createdweb content based onthe themes ofleadership andchanging ideas offreedom. An interactivewebsite had dailypostings from theteens on history,contemporary issues,and their experiencesas they visited sitesacross the country.The group visitedValley Forge for threedays and participatedin programs onslavery, AfricanAmerican militaryparticipation, General

Washington and leadership, religiousviews of the revolutionary period, andsoldier life.

n We held our fourth annual ValleyForge Teachers’ Institute in partnershipwith the Great Valley School Districtand OUAN. Teachers from around thecountry participated in this week-longevent entitled Revealing American’sStories Using Art, Literature, and

Science across the Curriculum, receivingAct 48 credits. Park staff and outsideexperts provided workshops ontechniques and tools to use in theclassroom. Three additional large groupsof teachers visited, funded by grants, toparticipate in park tours and seminars ofhistoric and contemporary topics.

n We saw a 28% growth in thenumber of students participating in ourformal education programs over 2007.Last year’s pilot program Riding throughHistory was added as a regularlyavailable fee-based presentation forschool groups, during which rangersboard school buses for 90-minuteguided tours of the park. 113 groupswith 4,310 students took the tour. Ourlong-time educational program,Soldiers’ Life, served 38 groups, with1,008 students.

The popular guided trolley tour provides a great way to learn aboutthe history of Valley Forge.

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Photo courtesy of VFCVB

High school debaters from around the country

discussed ideas of leadership and freedom.

Photo: M. Kennedy for OUAN

Photo: NPS

Martha Washington welcomes visiting “members ofCongress” during the Valley Forge After Hours tours.

n In its second year, the ranger-led Join the Continental Armyeducation program grew inavailability and popularity. 586recruits "enlisted" and theparents and siblings who camealong put the total number ofattendees for all five programsat about 800. A program sitewas maintained on the park’swebsite, with pictures, videos,and other information, andaveraged about 1,000 hits permonth from January throughApril. The Friends contributedfunds for additional woodendummy muskets and items forthe recruits to "purchase" withtheir Continental pay. Parentscertainly appreciated the hot coffeeprovided by the Friends and parkvolunteers.

n We continued to expand our use ofinterpretive technology to reach all ourvisitors, whether present or virtual, withprogramming about the history andnatural resources of the park. TheFriends supported the cell phone tourprogram and the tours were expanded

from 50 messages to 64. In2008, 15,663 unique listenerslistened to 34,567 messages.The tours also were translatedinto Spanish.

n A number of new podcastswere added to our roster, for atotal of 51. The scripts werewritten by a team of park staffand a playwriting consultant.

The team also produced andfilmed each podcast, featuring a5-8 minute program chroniclingthe events of the Valley Forgeencampment. The podcasts aredownloadable from both ourwebsite and iTunes.

n The park website underwentsignificant change and now offersmany more informational optionsfor visitors. This year, 952,000 visitsto the website were logged.

“Historic Landscape / Contemporary Vision” is a temporary exhibitof powerful images that provide new interpretations of thefamiliar scene.

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Park rangers recruited hundreds of kids to “join the Continental Army.”

Photo: NPS

n At the Welcome Center, atemporary exhibit titled TraditionalLandscape / Contemporary Visiondisplays enhanced photographs anddigital art by local artist, MJ Ticcino,of park landscapes, monuments, andhistoric personages. Originally plannedto be up for six months, its popularityhas resulted in an indefinite run.

n A temporary exhibit titled TheyChose Valley Forge was installed tocoincide with the annual Washington’sBirthday encampment of the BoyScouts in the park. The exhibitdescribed the three enormous nationaljamborees that took place in the park.In addition to the park’s collection ofphotographs of the events, a numberof individuals lent or donated souvenirs,letters, and diaries of their participation.

n We received a loan of the DonTroiani painting, The Battle of Oriskany,for prominent display in the WelcomeCenter. This large and beautiful canvasdepicts the hard-fought up-state NewYork action, which featured Oneida

warriors. We also hosted a travelingexhibit on Washington andRochambeau’s route to Yorktown.

n In our largest “exhibit” ever, thebeautiful mural Von Steuben Drillingthe Troops, whose permanent home isthe most prominent wall of thePennsylvania House of Representatives,was reproduced to wrap the six exteriorsides of the park visitor center.

n The American Revolution, aNational Park Service handbook,was completed by park staffwith assistance from allRevolutionary War nationalparks, TES, and EasternNational. This 128-page, full-color book features essaysfrom noted authors andacademicians as well asobjects and images fromnational park collectionsthroughout the easternUnited States.

n With the Friends, we announced anew historic research partnership withthe McNeil Center for Early AmericanStudies of the University ofPennsylvania. An annual fellowship willbe awarded to a PhD candidate toresearch related topics, develop at leastone educational project, develop andpresent public programming at thepark, and collaborate with park staff.

The American Revolution handbook provides new insights on

the Revolution and describes the roles of each of the scores

of Revolutionary War national parks.

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n This year’s program ofstabilization and restoration reached anumber of historic buildings. Work wasperformed by park staff, volunteers, anAmeriCorps crew, and throughcontract. Encampment-era Knox’Quarters received structuralstabilization of its interior and a newroof, gutters, and downspouts.Masonry repair was completed at theMaurice Stephens House, the SchoolHouse, and Varnum’s Springhouse.Exterior woodwork and window repairand painting were competed at theSteuben Memorial, the David PottsHouse, and Varnum’s Springhouse. Thespringhouse also received a new roof,gutters and downspouts, and repairs tothe interior. At one of the historic

Horse Shoe Trail houses, the non-contributing interior was guttedand new insulation, walls, ceilings,and floors, and windows wereadded, as well as upgrades toelectrical and plumbing.

n The second year of the three-year historic rehabilitation of theWashington’s Headquarters Areawas completed, with the removal ofa large parking lot and re-contouring

of the landscape, and the restorationof the historic Valley Forge trainstation. Construction of a smaller,screened parking lot and an accessiblecomfort station was begun, and thefirst of a planned major planting oftrees were installed.

n The rehabilitation of Inner LineDrive— a historic tour road that is akey component of the park’s culturallandscape—was completed. Over17,000 linear feet of original stonegutter along Inner Line Drive wererestored, including demolition ofoverlying pavement and removal of dirtand debris. An additional parking lotwas removed and the landscaperestored to its historic contours andreseeded. Two other parking lots werereduced in size.

n Park staff worked with the NPSHarper’s Ferry Center to digitallyphotograph 300 objects from thepark’s collection. With completion ofthe descriptive text, the images will beadded to the NPS collections websiteand the park’s website.

n Cultural resource interns providedvaluable research into topics the parkwants to include in future interpretiveprogramming. Interns used primaryresources to produce content on topicsincluding the presence of enslavedpersons during the encampment; theexperience of civilians during theencampment; and the history of thereclamation of the Schuylkill River—structures from which remain in thepark. Some of the research already hasbeen used in new cellphone tours.

It’s a tight squeeze working in historic buildings, yetKnox’ Quarters was fully stabilized and readied forthe next two centuries.

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Preserving History

Six acres of parking lots have been removed, recontoured,and the land restored to its historic appearance – herenear Washington’s Headquarters.

Photo: NPS

n We continued to make substantialprogress in pursuing the strategies andactions identified in the 2005 BusinessPlan. Again this year we reduced thepark’s fixed cost ratio—to 87.3% from90%. The budget for FY 2008 was$5,894,600, which comprised 82%labor and 18% non-labor.

n We reduced the cost of the fleet byanother 30%, also resulting in areduction of fleet maintenance stafffrom two to less than one. We nowuse these staff toward higher priorityneeds within the park.

n Through the Centennial Challenge,20 summer staff members werebrought on. They worked with ourregular facility management andinterpretive staff to keep the park cleanduring heavy visitation, preserve historic

buildings, and increase publicprogramming. Staffing also wasincreased by interns from the StudentConservation Association. Two internsjoined the Superintendent’s staff; twojoined interpretation; two joinednatural resources; and two joinedcultural resources. Additionally, anexperienced biologist came on detailfrom the Army Corps of Engineers.

n We completed a two-year $150,000project to upgrade our 12-year-oldtelephone system to a voice overinternet protocol system. The newsystem provides the necessaryinfrastructure that will allow for futurewireless connectivity through the park.

n We continue to take a proactiveapproach to cost recovery forspecial uses. We issued 148 Special

Use Permits, which resultedin cost recovery of $12,724—a 33.9% increase over 2007.

Last summer’s crew of seasonal workers greatly advancedthe care of the park.

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Implementing a New Business Model

Photo: NPS

Reduction in the size of the fleet frees up funding forpreservation and visitor services, our higest priorities.

n Expansion of Once Upon ANation. We received $125,000 toexpand the very successfulstoryteller program started here lastyear. We purchased an additionalstorytelling bench, developed threenew stories, hired two additionalstorytellers, and hosted interpretivetraining for both OUAN and NPSemployees. All of this resulted in a61% growth in the number ofvisitors served.

n Creation of a New MultimediaShow at Washington’s Headquarters.We received $200,000 to develop anew interactive multimedia programfor the newly renovated train stationat Washington’s Headquarters. Webegan work with a design/build firmand the new exhibit will be installedand open next summer. The Friends ofValley Forge Park and the EncampmentStore are the private partners.

n Expansion of the Joseph PlumbMartin Trail. We received $100,000 tobuild a connector trail near Washington’sHeadquarters, which will extend theexisting Joseph Plumb Martin Trail toconnect with the Valley Creek Trail. Thisconnector is a short but vital link in thepark’s trail network. The project willprovide a much safer solution for visitorsto cross Route 23. Again, the Friendswere the private partner.

n The park teamed with the FairmountWater Works, Schuylkill River National& State Heritage Area, and John HeinzNational Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum ona three-day Eco Youth Summit thatbrought together 40 school studentsand 40 educators and environmentalprofessionals to promote environmentalleadership among youth. Studentsparticipated in a watershed project atthe park and networked with peers andresource management professionals.

n A new natural resource partnershipwas initiated with the Open LandConservancy, the largest owner of openspace within the Valley Creekwatershed outside the park. Theconservancy funded one naturalresource intern for 12 months and thepark provided interns to theconservancy for one day per week overthe summer. Interns conductedconservation activities such as removalof invasive plants, trail maintenance,and marking preserve boundaries.

n A natural resource partnership wasinitiated with Cabrini College and theStroud Water Research Center. The parkhosted a field trip to Valley Creek forhigh school biology teachersparticipating in a Stroud workshop.Park staff then worked with thesepartners to identify four ideas whichwill be developed and implemented in2009 and beyond, including a streamschool, environmental film festival,watershed science and citizenshipteachers institute, and cooperativework on a National ScienceFoundation/Informal Science EducationGrant focused on watershed scienceand citizenship.

Emphasis on completing missing links in the park trail system makes the entire system safer and more useable.

In a scene from the new film, Baron de Steubencontemplates the training of the Continental Army.

The popular Once Upon A Nation story-telling programthat makes history fun and compelling was greatly expanded

this year.

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Building a Network of Support

In cooperation with our key partners, the park was awardedthree Centennial Challenge projects in FY2008, totaling $425,000:

n The volunteer program grew againthis year. Over 2,000 individualvolunteers and 59 organizationsdonated 43,469 hours, for an increaseof 15% over 2007.

n A new website devoted tovolunteers is now in place. It hasbecome a source for content on parkhistory and natural resources, events,schedules, and training. There also is ablog for volunteer communication.

n For the third year, the park hosted anAmericorps Crew. The crew spent sixweeks here, most notably restoringVarnum’s Springhouse and also removingnon-native/ invasive vegetation.

n For a second year, the park hosted aPublic Land Corps crew: six high schoolstudents and their two leaders spentthree weeks in the park working ontrails and non-native/invasive removal.

n The park once again held a largeNational Public Lands Day event. Over300 volunteers participated in 15 natural,cultural, and visitor facility projects. REI-Conshohocken and Unilever/Lipton Teawere the primary sponsors.

n On National Trails Day, 24environmental, conservation, trails, andheath organizations providededucation, information, anddemonstrations. Guided hikes, clinics,and games were offered. 150volunteers participated in trailsmaintenance projects. Unilever/LiptonTea–Healthy Parks/Healthy Living wasthe primary sponsor.

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The Encampment Store, the park’s 501c3 cooperating association,continues to be a critical partner in improving the quality of thevisitor experience. TES works closely with the park on all our specialevents, development of interpretive and educational programming,and creation of educational products for our visitors.

n In addition to expansionof the Trolley Tour, TESworked with park staff and acontractor to produce a verypopular new 60-minuteAudio/CD Tour of the park—the first in over 20 years.

n TES produced GeneralWashington’s annual birthdaycelebration. With help fromMrs. Washington, TES servedover 1,000 visitorscomplimentary pieces of MarthaWashington’s own recipe ofcake. Free craft activities helpedchildren exhibit their creativity inmaking and presentingto the General custombirthday cards withpersonal greetings.

n Over 90 childrenenjoyed the store’sfree Decemberprogram Make YourOwn Log Cabin. Heldduring the park’sannual March-Inactivities, childrenand parents madecolorful and extremely creative“cabins” using pretzel logs, candiesand cake decorations.

n Despite the downturn in theeconomy TES held steady with salesequal to 2007 and returned $87,000 indonations to the park, which supported

the growth andexpansion ininterpretive andeducationalprogramming. TES alsowas a key contributorto the new MultimediaShow at Valley ForgeTrain Station.

n The park benefitsfrom the stronginterrelationships

among its partners. TES providedongoing support and services to theFriends of Valley Forge Park inmembership sales, programdevelopment and implementation andspecial event management.

The Encampment Store provides the region’s largest

and most comprehensive selection of books about the Revolution,

and also provides memories.

The General’s birthday was first celebrated publicly here atValley Forge in 1778 – we keep the tradition going!Photo: NPS

n The park and Friends fundedand completed a fundraising feasibilityand capacity study that provides anaction plan for further strengtheningthe Friends as the park’s primary non-profit partner. As a result of the study,the Friends hired their first paid staffmember and the board has beenexpanded to include more business andcommunity leaders.

n The board of the Valley ForgeHistorical Society voted to merge withthe Friends of Valley Forge, and thetransaction is now in progress. Thesociety has a century-long associationwith Valley Forge as a historic place and

a park, and the merger opensmany opportunities for research,programming, and advocacy.

n Membership in the Friends againincreased. Most of the members whohave renewed their annual membershipshave increased their level of support, asthey continue to see results.

n The Friends overhauled their websiteand it is now a place for members andthe wider public to learn more aboutthe organization and all of theiractivities. The site is linked with thoseof the park and the CVB.

n The Friends work with parkstaff to electronically publish TheContinental Chronicle, the park’snewsletter, four times a yearand distribute it by email andon the web.

n Friends contributed time,talent, and funding to the parkthroughout the year. TheFriends were key supporters ofthe 3rd Annual RevolutionaryRun, which garnered $31,000for ongoing trail improvements.The Friends now support the24/7 cell phone tour service,which benefits visitors to thepark throughout the year.

The Friends also were key financialsupporters for two CentennialChallenge grants for improvements inthe Washington’s Headquarters area.

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The Friends were leaders among the many volunteers

who carried out two major tree plantin

g projects in the

park this year.

Partners like the Friends are essential to the success of theannual Revolutionary Run

The Friends of Valley Forge Park continues to grow andchange as an organization. New board leadership and arevitalized mission statement is transforming the park’soldest partner.

Photo: Jonathan Kolbe for the Valley Forge CVB

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hours weekly in support ofthe park and visitors to theregion. Staff handle thepark’s incoming groupinquiries and assist visitorsin the Welcome Center,maintain the brochurerack, train, schedule, andmanage all WelcomeCenter volunteers.

n The CVB amplified thepark’s web presence byupdating programinformation for manytourism websites. CVBstaff handled the park’sincomingmedia

inquiries, includingrequests for filming, andinterviews from radio,TV, and newspapers.CVB staff represent thepark at local andnational events formeeting planners, touroperators, schools, scouttroops, and regionaltourism partners.

n Last year, the CVB started a programto track motor coach groups visitingthe park. This year, an additional 231discrete groups registered, bringing thetotal to over 600. The CVB follows upby conducting targeted mailings andestablishing relationships to better servethe groups. The data base will beinvaluable for future reservation-basedvisits to Washington’s Headquarters.

n The CVB facilitates extensive newscoverage and exposure for park eventsand programs. The CVB provided twofull-time and one part-time staffpersons who logged more than 100

The Valley Forge Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) continued to serve as an invaluablepartner in promoting the park to visitors and opinion-makers, and helping us to understand,provide services to, and manage our visitors. The CVB serves as an excellent liaison to hotels andother components of the vibrant regional tourism industry.

n The CVB worked with park staff andoversaw the creation of visitor servicespublications for the park, including theSpring/Summer and Fall/WinterProgram Guides, Welcome Centersignage, the “Today at Valley Forge”rack card, the Cell Phone Tour rack cardand the Annual Calendar of Events. Inaddition to use by visitors at the park,many of these publications aredistributed to area hotels, businessconcierges, local government buildings,chambers of commerce, attractions andregional visitor centers.

CVB staff provide friendly information and assistance at the park Visitor Center.

The CVB’s visitor services and information publications areused extensively at the park and also distributed to local and out-of-town lodging and tour operators.

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Caring for the Environment

up a trap and removal programusing interns and volunteers andrequesting technical assistancefrom agencies more familiar withthe threat. The team removedover 250 rusty crayfish and, forthe time being, successfullysuppressed this population withinthe park.

n Primarily funded throughoutside sources, two naturalresources interns, one teacher,and a biologist on detail fromthe Army Corps of Engineerscompleted an outstanding fieldseason. They documented a

new species to the park, removedinvasive crayfish, maintained riparianbuffer fencing, removed invasive plants,developed a chronic wasting diseasesurveillance protocol, and led visitorprograms.

n We continued ourpartnership with theGarden Club ofAmerica throughthe Partners forPlants program todetermine whethersix plant species ofspecial concern thatoccurred in the parkhistorically are stillpresent today. Thesurvey showed that twospecies have beenextirpated from the park, but fourspecies remain. Plant species inside thepark’s largest deer exclosure wereinventoried for comparison with speciespresent in 1998. A total of 52 plantspecies were documented within the

fenced area in 2008, an increase of41% over the number of speciespresent in 1998.

n The park continues to maintainapproximately three acres of fencedareas along Valley Creek to promote thegrowth of a healthy forested riparianbuffer. This year, we replaced much ofthe posts and fencing, and throughcontribution of over 150 volunteerhours were able to make necessaryrepairs and maintain these structures.

n The final report for the inventory ofpark meadows was completed by thePennsylvania Natural Heritage Program.A total of 325 plant species weredocumented, with 60% native toPennsylvania. The survey also identifiedfour species of special concern. Thisinformation is the foundation fordevelopment of desired meadow

conditions and revision of thefield management plan.

n We participated in the NPSTeacher-Ranger-Teacherprogram, which developsrelationships with teachersfrom inner city schools. Ourteacher, from a middleschool in the Philadelphiadistrict, worked withpark staff and partners

on projects includingcurriculum development and the

invasive rusty crayfish in Valley Creek.He will continue to provide support bytraining volunteers on crayfish removal,participating in environmental events,and making final revisions to completednatural resource lesson plans.

Our cooperating Ranger-Teacher dev

eloped

natural resources cur

ricula and led discove

ry tours.Photo: NPS

n Nearing the end of a long roadtoward management of the park’swhite-tailed deer herd, the public draftplan and EIS was published at the endof the year, including an expansion todeal with the potential of chronicwasting disease, and a 60-day publicreview was initiated.

n Our ongoing effort to manage non-native invasive plants was expanded,primarily through the use of volunteersand coordination of volunteers and theMid-Atlantic Exotic Plant ManagementTeam (EPMT). One field on the northside of the park was completely clearedof Autumn Olive through the combinedefforts of the Public Lands Crew andEPMT. 1,550 gross acres (57 canopyacres) were treated park-wide this year.

n This summer, an aggressive, non-native crayfish species moved from theSchuylkill River into Valley Creek. Parkstaff responded immediately by setting

Volunteers and park staff mounted an aggressive campaign against the invasive Rusty Crayfish

Photo: NPS

n We continued to reduce deferredmaintenance and improve thecondition of structures and landscapesthroughout the park, includingprogress on the $6.2 millionrenovation and rehabilitation ofWashington’s Headquarters,completion of the $500,000rehabilitation of General Knox’Quarters, and completion of $490,000rehabilitation of the Visitor Center.

n Over the past two years the park hassecured $4.8 million for deferredmaintenance. Deferred maintenancehas been reduced 30% since 2006through projects, and by an additional15% through better data management.

n We obligated funds for eight majorconstruction, rehabilitation, andhazardous materials remediationprojects in 2008, including extensiveexterior repairs on Stirling’s Quarters,the Mordecai Moore House, and theKnox-Tindle House.

n Over the past twofiscal years the parkhas successfullyplanned, contracted,and managed over$3 million in projectfunds for preventivemaintenance and toenhance contractsupport.

n Work to keep visitors safe resultedin the removal of over 150 tires fromthe banks of the Schuylkill River andthe Waggonseller Farm; thereplacement of damaged brick paversat the Visitor Center; the removal ofrotted reproduction huts in a highlyvisited area; removal of lead-contaminated soil from the perimetersof five structures; removal of toxicsfrom the banks of Covered BridgeRun; trimming of hazardous limbsfrom major trees that overhang hikingtrails, and regular monitoring andsampling of the Asbestos Release Site.

n The trails program remains vibrant.The first phase of renovation of the

popular Joseph Plumb Martin loop trailwas accomplished with $482,000 ofNPS funds. With support from theFriends, we received $100,000 in NPSCentennial Challenge funds for aconnector trail near Washington’sHeadquarters. The Sierra Club VolunteerVacation group again spent a weekhere rebuilding trails on Mount Misery.And this was the second year of athree-year Public Lands Crew programat the park, in which a team of sixyoung workers contributed severalweeks to trails projects.

n The original 1976 greenroof of the Visitor Center wasremoved to allowreplacement of thewaterproof membrane andnew HVAC was installed.The roof was repaired andreplanted with sod.

n Rehabilitation wasperformed for the Theater

and Administration buildings, withnew roofs and HVAC. Both buildingswere painted.

n Thanks to the NPS CentennialChallenge, 14 seasonal maintenanceemployees made a big difference in thecondition of facilities this summer. Theymowed lawns and fields, performedcustodial services, collected trash anddebris, removed deteriorated huts,removed over 25 hazardous trees,removed tires from the banks ofSchuylkill along the River Trail, installedfencing to prevent soil disturbance fromerrant vehicles, demolished damagedfencing, and increased invasive speciescontrol park-wide. Their contributionsalso freed staff to increase the level ofregular and preventative maintenanceon park buildings.

n Rangers worked with local policeagencies and the U.S. Secret Service toinvestigate a series of thefts from motorvehicles that began in 2006. Five suspectswere identified, arrested, and indictedthis year on charges of credit card fraudand theft from motor vehicles.

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Protecting Visitors and Resource

Sierra Club volunteers from around the country spent a week in the park renovating trails.

Clean-ups on the Schuylkill River that flows throughthe park are a big part of each year’s work.

Photo: NPS

Photo: NPS

Valley Forge National Historical Park

1400 North Outer line DriveKing of Prussia, PA 19406

www.nps.gov/vafo

All photos: MJTiccino Images unless otherwise noted. • Concept & Design: Ticcino Creative

Valley Forge – always a place of quiet beauty and personal renewal