Lisa Reisman Photo
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the unnamed trail,” Deamonte Godley announced to a group of 15 at a trailhead just off Wayfarer Street near the Westville Manor complex.
The occasion was “Walk the Trailblazers’ Trail,” a tour of a new trail system in progress to connect the neighborhoods of Westville Manor and Rockview, and create direct access to the West Rock Nature Center. The trails are open to the public.
Godley (pictured), a recent graduate of Common Ground High School, was among the eight teenagers and young adults from the Westville Manor, Rockview, and Brookside public-housing development hired by the nonprofit Solar Youth for its Trailblazers Program, which is funded by Youth@Work New Haven and the federal CARES Act.
“The idea of revitalizing these underutilized woods has been here for a while, but pretty much the focus has been West Rock Nature Center,” said Trailblazer Program Coordination Harry Jones, as the group crunched through leaves along the path in the bracing air. “I figured: Why not revitalize these woods that are kind of adjacent and get some of our youth involved?”
Jones said the woods didn’t have a name. “That’s something else we have to do, is name the trail.”
In the six weeks they’ve been at work, the crew has removed a lot of the trash. A lot remains.
“The trash goes three feet deep in some places,” Jones said. “Some of the bottles have been here for over a decade.”
They’ve also raked, ripped out roots, and blown leaves to clear the paths. To border the trail, they took branches that were downed by recent storms. In one area, Yahshua Conley pointed out a retainer wall built from a hill that went straight down. “A lot of work went into that little section of trail,” he said.
Further along was a tire inside an old well camouflaged by leaves. It appeared an accident waiting to happen. “We’re going to build a bench over this, so no one gets hurt and everyone can just relax and chill,” Conley said.
There are plans to dig out stairs that have grown slanted to make them safe; to construct bridges and map trails and create safety guides, and eventually build a kiosk with a map showing different colors for different trails, and a sign with guidelines on proper etiquette on the trail.
Near a shallow drop, “we want to put benches and picnic tables so people can hang out and enjoy the woods,” Jordan Davis said. In another area, there’s a plan to recycle tires for challenges along the trails. Up a shallow hill, there will be three lean-tos with a firepit in the middle — provided they can secure a permit.
“We’re going to clear out all these dead trees and place them strategically,” said Jones (pictured).
There are plans to revitalize the camp site and the amphitheater, and over the winter there’s an orienteering course they’re going to expand.
“We’re going to keep working,” Jones said, as the light dimmed and the group returned to the trailhead. “Our teens have a phenomenal work ethic, no matter what weather conditions or challenges come our way.”
Solar Youth founder and Executive Director Joanne Sciulli lauded the efforts of Jones and his crew of eight. “You’re creating a resource that benefits the entire New Haven community,” she said.
Montreal Johnson-Godley, Deamonte’s mother, shared another positive byproduct of the program.
“My son helps to contribute to the household, whether it’s toiletries, groceries, whatever I say, he’ll go get it like that,” she said. Each trailblazer is paid $12 an hour. “So it’s a big help at this time, a huge help.”
“It felt amazing to do this tour,” said Jordan Davis, as the group headed toward the Solar Youth headquarters. “All of us put a lot of work into this. When it got dark, we wore head lamps so we could continue to work and get more done so we wouldn’t have to do it later or the next day.
“It means a lot that everyone came to see what we’ve done. Even though it’s getting colder, we’re still willing to fight back and get this trail done so when the pandemic gets out of the way, more and more people can enjoy this.”
