Green Light for Double Circle May 8th-10th 
MarkSpencer
by Mark Spencer 

It’s been up to the wire, but our new friend, Eric Bredemann, District Archaeologist for the Clifton District of the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, has accomplished what he had hoped to for us and won the approval of the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) for our upcoming project at the old Double Circle! This means we are on for constructing a new porch roof on the lodge building over the weekend of May 8, 9 & 10, assuming we have good weather. APA’s board member, Ty Greenwade, has been busy getting quotes on materials and we’ll pull the trigger about one week beforehand on their purchase. Total cost for the materials looks to be just under $2000, with three members meeting our challenge in offering $500 each to cover these costs so far! Thank you Kevin Pettiette, Jeff Wilson, and yours truly. We need just one more donor to take the $500 challenge! Even if you are not a carpenter, plan on camping out with us for the weekend and enjoying Saturday’s lunch and dinner!  Bring a side dish of your choice.

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The final designation of the site remains up in the air as the Forest Archaeologist in Springerville believes the original study of the site, completed in 1992, was incomplete. Eric plans on an update to this earlier study, including a closer look at the Apache influence on the site, sometime next year. He believes he’s found some funding for this, and may be reaching out to the pilot community for volunteers in a site survey that would include some digging and sifting. I am sure hoping my schedule will align as I’ve always been interested in this sort of archaeologic work. Either way, the pilot community and others will continue to enjoy the use of this site into the future. Region 3 Recreation Officer, Francisco Valenzuela, has even mentioned including the site in the Arizona Trail System.

I sketched the plans below as a general guide, but we’ll be sure to run into some small challenges as we fit them to the existing lodge structure.

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Moving forward, we’ll be sending the old, and very heavy, picnic tables back to the Forest Service after our May weekend. Our original intent was to place these inside the lodge, for both protection and use, but their weight has caused concerns of potential damage to the lodge floor joists. We’ve proposed replacing them with convertible park like benches that fold into picnic tables. These could be easily moved outside under the new porch roof when necessary, or left inside during bad weather. Their cost is only $100 each, and a few of these would really help all visitors, especially the pilot community. If you are interested in supporting placement of these at the site, let us know.


Keep an eye on our facebook site as we monitor the weather for the May 8, 9 and 10th weekend. Any changes will be posted there. Also, it helps us plan for the correct amount of food if you let us know you plan on attending! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

 

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