The Forest Fridays program resumes on Friday, April 8! Teachers may sign up to take their students to the Garrison School Forest on Friday afternoons starting this week.

Local naturalist and environmental educator Pete Salmansohn expressed his excitement about the Forest Fridays program. "I'm so glad to see a reconnection with the School Forest," Salmansohn said.

Salmansohn, is an Education Coordinator with the National Audubon Society's Project Puffin Seabird Restoration Program. He's also an educator for the Hudson Highland Land Trust River of Words program. Each summer, he teaches at the Audubon camp at Hog Island in Maine. Salmansohn shared his favorite places to teach within the Garrison School Forest.

"You know where the School Forest entrance at 135 Snake Hill Road is? You make an immediate left, and there's a little stream there," Salmansohn said. "That's one of my favorite places. Even though that stream is really little, there's a lot in there. There's salamanders and frogs and fish, and all sorts of interesting water insects."

Salmansohn said he also enjoys taking students to the Blueberry Swamp. "It's a nice wetland, and it gives the kids a feeling of being away because it takes kind of a hike to get there," Salmansohn said. "Probably my favorite place is a vernal pool in the vicinity of blueberry swamp. I've taken kids there in the early spring to see breeding wood frogs and spotted salamanders.
 
"The South and the North Redoubts are wonderful places to go, as well, because they give children and adults alike a phenomenal panorama, and a feeling for the landscape," Salmansohn said. "Those sites show us just how lucky we are to live in an extraordinarily beautiful place."

Finn Waldron, a 2012 graduate of the Garrison School, built a welcome kiosk for the Garrison School Forest as a gift to the school district during the summer of 2015. Waldron initiated the project as part of his work to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout.

Waldron, who has spent a lot of time hiking in the School Forest and other park land in the Hudson Highlands, wanted to create a project that would encourage use of the School Forest. "I felt that this would help to make the school forest more accessible to our community," he said. "The kiosk will enable hikers to plan their hike better. The map will be a wonderful tool for all the hikers in this area."

The wooden kiosk features a large map of the School Forest, the history of the School Forest, the rules and operating hours of the School Forest, and emergency phone numbers. It is located at the School Forest ​entrance at 135 Snake Hill Road. 

Waldron made a presentation and submitted a proposal to the School Board members of the Garrison School in May 2015. He worked with Richard Timmons, the Garrison School's Director of Maintenance, to scout out a location for the kiosk within the School Forest. Later in the summer, Mr. Timmons helped to install the kiosk.

N. Dain's Sons Co. of Peekskill gave Waldron a generous discount on the lumber for the kiosk. Waldron worked with his uncle Dan Lehmeier to build the kiosk in June. A crew of fellow Boy Scouts, Waldron's uncle, and others helped Waldron to install the kiosk in the School Forest on August 20. The pictures below chronicle the stages of the project. They are part of a book Waldron created to document his project. An excerpt from the book is displayed below.

Waldron attends James I. O'Neill High School, and is now an Eagle Scout in Philipstown Boy Scout Troop 437.