| Friends of the Rountree Branch | ||
| Maps Location of Rountree Sampling Sites Watershed Interested Parties |
 New kiosk built for information about the trail Portion of completed trail Friends of the Rountree Branch (FORB) is a local organization created in April 1997, as an Adhoc Committee of the Park and Recreation Board of the City of Platteville. FORB has been integral in getting all parties interested in the Rountree Branch coordinated. FORB has improved relations between the community and the University, and their current efforts are now to get the UWP Biology, Reclamation and Civil and Environmental Engineering Departments working together on the Rountree Branch. FORB is working on two main projects. The first is a biking and walking trail, the second is watershed and stream restoration. The biking and walking trail is a 1.2-mile connection of two trails already in place, the UWP Campus Trail at Chestnut Street and the Pecatonica Trail (DNR Rail Trail) at Mineral Street. UWP Senior Design students in Civil Engineering created the design for the trail. Phase One of the trail was completed in the summer of 2001. The watershed and stream restoration project is in the plan-development phase as of fall 2001. The current work is researching the river and watershed so a restoration plan can be formed that will best suit the Rountree Branch. FORB's future plans include the completion of Phase Two and Three of the walking trail, which may also include two covered bridges. One on the still present bridge abutments of the old HWY 80-81 bridge and the other on the old Mitchell Hollow Road bridge, which still has its platform and beautiful original cut rock bridge abutments. Both of these locations lend themselves to foot bridges and are no longer used for vehicular traffic. |