The Carbon County Environmental Education Center has completed the first step toward refurbishing the trail leading to the bird blind in Summit Hill.

Phase one of the project, which was to install a handicap-accessible ramp to the blind, was finished last Monday.The blind is a structure that allows people to observe wildlife up close, without being intrusive to the animals. Additional improvements to the trail will include installing boardwalk sections, replacing the roof of the blind, and conducting some minor trail repairs."Some time ago, CCEEC was offered money from PennEast pipeline, which we turned down. A few days later, a donation was made to CCEEC in the exact amount we had just refused - $5,000. It was made in memory of Barbara Stone," the organization's chief naturalist, Susan Gallagher, said. "We received a donation of a similar amount in memory of one of CCEEC's first volunteers and a Bureau of Forestry employee, Carey McCauley."The contributions were combined to revitalize the trail, make it more accessible, and to honor the women who made the project possible."Both Carey and Mrs. Stone loved being outside in nature and were passionate about helping others learn to appreciate the outdoors. We think this is an honorable way to remember them, and to benefit visitors to CCEEC."Once the Stone McCauley Trail is completed, it will provide easy access to the lake shore at the west end of Mauch Chunk."We do see visitors here who have various levels of mobility, including kids in wheelchairs," Gallagher said. "If we wanted to get them close to the shore, we were unable to, originally."This prevented many visitors from getting to observe the avian life during peak seasons."If you're a serious bird-watcher, you want to have access in the spring and in the fall, to see the migrants," Gallagher said. The improved trail will allow for better accessibility at these times, whereas previously, the trail was difficult to traverse due to rain or melting snow and ice.Volunteers from the local branch of Altadis USA contributed their time and effort to help see the project through."We're so grateful to have Altadis work with us on this. They've completed the most difficult part of the project, so from here on out things will be a lot less complicated. The people at their plant have sort of adopted CCEEC, and have helped with a lot of other smaller projects. Not only are they hardworking, but they bring so much expertise. It would have taken us forever to do this on our own. They're a tremendous help," Gallagher said.The trail and bird blind will be open during the upcoming improvements.