Pine Lake opens new nature trail

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
March 7, 2002
Area students will have a Swamp Nature Trail to explore this spring at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp.
An open house and dedication of the trail will be held Friday at 2 p.m.
Co-director Cheryl Landis said the camp's primary focus has been as a summer camp for youth, but it has expanded over the years to include cabins, a pavilion, a heated and cooled lodge for conferences and now the Swamp Nature Trail.
Owned by the Gulf States Mennonite Conference, the camp opened 36 years ago and is located on a wooded 94-acre tract of land.
Several contributors helped fund the Swamp Nature Trail, including a grant from The Riley Foundation and a Chevron Community Pride grant, administered by the 4-H Department, Mississippi State University Extension Service.
Landis said lots of volunteer labor has also gone into making the trail. Several students from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisburg, Va., have been putting finishing touches on the trail this week during their spring break.
There is a 600-foot boardwalk over part of the trail where beavers, birds, magnolia, pines, oaks and waxmyrtle have lived for centuries.
Houses for various birds, such as Carolina chickadees, purple martins, owls and wood ducks have been put in place and houses for bats have also been constructed. A fish feeding station and butterfly and prairie garden are other added features.
Along the trail there are signs that identify much of the plant life and animal habitat.
Dates will be available for school groups in April and May. For more information about booking tours of students, call Cheryl Landis at 483-2267 or e-mail her at pinelakecamp@juno.com.
HOW TO GET THERE
Pine Lake Fellowship Camp is located north of Meridian on Pine Lake Road. Take Highway 19 North to Old Eighth Street Road and turn left. Turn right at Woods Road, then left onto Pine Lake Road.