Murrysville reserve namesake wants to help maintain trails: 'It just needs some attention'

Skena Nature Reserve in Murrysville is a quiet, bucolic place. As leaves on the trees start counting their final days this month, the reserve is splashed with color across its 22 acres.

But if you try to go for a walk along its trails, things hit a snag — a dead tree that has fallen across the path, perhaps, or a literal snag from a multiflora rose. The invasive species has taken a foothold over the years across Southwestern Pennsylvania’s woodlands.

Bob Skena of Murrysville can remember running across the property when he was growing up, venturing down to its pond and wandering the acreage. Today, along with the adjacent Kellman Nature Reserve, he has 77 acres of preserved forest just a short stroll from his front door. And he’s hoping he can help take better care of it by brush-hogging its acreage, clearing dead trees and getting the trails in better condition.

Skena made an offer to municipal officials to do just that, at no cost to the municipality.

“It’s kind of impossible to walk through there, and the erosion gullies, which used to be small enough to step over, are now 3 feet wide in some places,” Skena said.

The reserve opened in 2012. It was acquired through fundraising by the Westmoreland Land Trust and a private donation by Gerald and Audrey McGinnis, whose names are on the nearby McGinnis Reserve. The Skena reserve, however, was deeded to Murrysville, and municipal officials seemed reluctant to take Skena up on his offer.

“The municipality doesn’t have any other agreements like this in place, so not only would you be setting some precedent, the existing agreement comes with some concerns,” Murrysville Chief Administrator Michael Nestico told council members at their Nov. 1 meeting.

Councilman Mac McKenna said the reserve’s maintenance has come up at parks and recreation meetings.

“There have been some proposals to go in and hand-cut some of the trails,” McKenna said. “Some local Scout troops have expressed an interest in volunteering down there, and they’ve helped a lot with the trails at Townsend Park. I don’t see this (agreement) as a good idea, though, to relinquish control of the park.”

Councilwoman Jamie Lingg said she used to walk the Skena trails with her children and agreed they’re difficult to navigate nowadays.

“Mr. Skena is volunteering time and money to help with this, but I’d like to see it done in a way where it’s more of a trust basis than a contractual basis,” Lingg said.

Neither parks nor public works staff does regular maintenance at the reserve. Skena said it just needs some attention.

“My uncles used to maintain the trails,” he said. “Doing the work is not that big of a deal. But in my mind, council has failed a very simple test: Someone wants to pay $30,000 to $50,000 to maintain their nature reserve, and they said no thanks. That’s where it’s at right now.”

Nestico said the municipality simply wants time to parse the agreement and suggest revisions.

“We’re certainly interested in having someone volunteer their time and resources, but it does have to go through a formal review process,” he said. “And it’s a bit of uncharted territory. We don’t have this type of formal agreement in place with other volunteers, certainly not one that provides them with the exclusivity to determine who goes in to volunteer and what gets done.”