Nawakwa Lodge Trail Crew flaps

Nawakwa Lodge 3 held their 2012 Trail Crew weekend March 30-April 1, concluding their three year project to complete a section of trail in the George Washington-Jefferson National Forest named the “ArrowCorp Loop” which connects Peters Ridge to Dry Run trails in Allegheny County, Virginia. The conclusion was celebrated with a “vine-cutting” ceremony on March 31.

Work in the National Forest originally began in the summer of 2008 when Lodges across the nation participated in ArrowCorps5. In 2009 Nawakwa Lodge committed to completing the unfinished work on the Loop and coordinated efforts from other Virginia Arrowmen by scheduling annual events in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Crews were limited to 100 participants each year, but demand was so high in 2012 there were 124 trail crew participants. Shenandoah, Blue Heron, and Wahunsenakah Lodges contributed to the efforts over the four years of the project with Shenandoah organizing work weekends in 2009 and 2010 with commemorative patches for each.

Nawakwa issued special flap patches for their work weekends in 2010, 2011, and 2012 to commemorate the event and raise money for the project. Many were limited to participants and multiple year crew members. GW/Jeff Trail Crew Advisor Michael Lynch and youth Co-Advisor Adam White kindly provided the following pictures of each patch and detailed information including insight about their unique designs.

2010 – Theme: Building a Legacy;  Arrow is connecting the trails.

• Red Border – unrestricted Lodge Flap – Fund-Raiser; anyone in OA can purchase; 350 commissioned.
• Silver Border – restricted Lodge Flap – Each participant received one and only participants could purchase extras; 350 commissioned.

2011 – Theme: Building a Legacy;  Cardinal Chill, ready for more trail work; The band in the middle signifies the complete rough-cut of the trail.

• Red Border – unrestricted Lodge Flap – Fund-Raiser; anyone in OA can purchase; 400 commissioned.
• Green Border – restricted Lodge Flap – Each participant received one and only participants could purchase extras; 350 commissioned.
• Red Ghost – restricted Lodge Flap – Addition of a roman numeral II to signify 2^nd year status – Only participants returning for their 2^nd tour of service received one and only 2^nd year participants could purchase extras; 250 commissioned.

2012 – Theme: A Living Legacy; The band signifying the completed trail running through a band to represent a unending commitment to service, the band is encased in yellow which is the color of the Allegheny Trail System Blaze markers; the right-slanted III hash marks signifies the 3^rd and final year.

• Red Border – unrestricted Lodge Flap – Fund-Raiser; anyone in OA can purchase; 450 commissioned.
• Silver Border – restricted Lodge Flap – Each participant received one and only participants could purchase extras; 300 commissioned.
• Black Ghost – restricted Lodge Flap – Only participants returning for their 2^nd  or 3^rd tour of service received one and only 2^nd or 3^rd year participants could purchase extras; 300 commissioned.
• In addition, the black ghost flap had an optional “Recruiters” pin issued to any 2^nd or 3^rd year participant Arrowman who recruited a new Arrowman that had not previously participated in the event.  Only 14 pins were issued.

Sources:

• Nawakwa Lodge Trail Crew Advisor Michael Lynch and Trail Crew Youth Advisor Adam White
• Nawakwa Lodge newsletter, The Tom Tom
• August, 2009
• April, 2010
• August, 2010
• December, 2011
• US Forest Service: Order of the Arrow Returns to Build More National Forest Trails
• ArrowCorp5 GW Project Map (4.8MB PDF)