Jason Gooder, Joel Vincent, Brody Bertram, Blake Harris (Hardin County) and Logan Van Dyke.
The staff at Franklin County Conservation is dedicated to maintaining our parks and recreation area, providing an addition to our quality of life, educating people about conservation, and protecting our natural heritage. It’s weighty work and they do an amazing job of it. You can find more information on their website. Today we have guest blogger Hope Polk telling a very different story about the boys at County Conservation. I’m proud to live and work in the same community as they do.
Hurricane Sandy Relief
Hurricane Sandy is causing destruction in all forms, from flooding, devastation of homes, to no transportation or electricity. A module of twenty people, half from the Mark Twain National Forest in Southern Missouri and half from Iowa, are on their way to give aid. Four of the twenty from this module, are from right here in Franklin County. Jason Gooder, Joel Vinson, Brody Bertram, and Logan Van Dyke, from Franklin County Conservation Office, left yesterday evening and are currently en route to Pennsylvania. Once they arrive they will receive their assignment and where they will be stationed to be sawyers. A sawyer is a crew member certified to operate a chainsaw at an incident.
Gooder said, “The plans, as of now, will be to remove trees from the roads or in any other areas where trees, limbs, etc. could be a hazard.” Gooder also mentioned Gene Elphic, from E & E Repair in Hampton, generously donated a saw chain and filing equipment to help in the Hurricane Sandy relief effort.
Franklin County Conservation is a member of the National Preparedness for Fire. In a relief effort, they can be called to other natural disasters, such as Hurricane Sandy. In the past, Jason Gooder has aided with Katrina in 2005, also has been called for fire relief in Colorado, Missouri, Texas, and in Georgia where he helped contain a swamp fire. Logan Van Dyke has been to the Colorado, Missouri, and Texas fires. Brody Bertram has aided in the Northeast Minnesota fire and Joel Vinson has aided relief in the Texas fire.
“It is a good feeling to be able to help out our fellow Americans when they need it,” said Joel Vinson when asked how he felt right before leaving for Pennsylvania yesterday. This effort will last two weeks and in the meantime the Greater Franklin County Chamber will be receiving updates from Jason Gooder and his crew. Franklin County Conservation is a member in good standing of the Chamber and exemplifies the Chamber’s mission statement: The purpose of the Greater Franklin County Chamber of Commerce is to support economic growth, by improving the quality of life and business climate in the Greater Franklin County area. The Chamber will keep you updated with their relief efforts as they come in. Visit www.facebook.com/GreaterFranklinCountyChamber to see those updates. The Franklin County Conservation is members of the Greater Franklin County Chamber.