Nolde Forest volunteer presented state award
On a recent chilly night, Tina Englert led small groups through activities for Day of the Dead at Nolde Forest.
Englert, a volunteer, guided the visitors with the ease and confidence of someone who knows the forest and community well.
For Englert volunteering at Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center is a passion.
She can be found several times a week doing a variety of things: cleaning up a trail, picking up litter, taking photographs or giving talks to visitors, said Brent Erb, manager of the center.
She’s also treasurer for Nolde’s volunteer organization and has initiated projects to help educate people about nature in the forest.
That commitment and passion is what earned her the designation as the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources 2019 Volunteer of the Year, Erb said.
Englert of Shillington was supposed to receive the award in March, but the event was canceled due to the pandemic. Erb presented her with the award last month.
Englert, 43, grew up in Centre Township. Being outdoors is something she’s always enjoyed.
Nolde is a park where many people learn to hike, she said. She began volunteering at Nolde about four years ago.
Annually she’s clocked 140 hours volunteering. That doesn’t include the times she visits the forest just to walk and inevitably finds herself picking up trash or sharing information with visitors.
“Tina is being honored because she is a dedicated visitor and volunteer,” Erb said. “She gives back so much. She’s an ambassador for our park.”
Englert, who works as a data analyst for a physicians group, started volunteering with her husband on a trail crew — on her birthday.
Jennifer Stinson, president of the Friends of Nolde Forest, said Englert came to a Friends meeting about two years ago and within six months volunteered to be treasurer.
“She is extremely trustworthy and efficient in that position,” Stinson said. “At the time she came to the Friends meeting, she had already been volunteering at Nolde, mainly on trail crews, to clean trails and make them accessible to all of the visitors at Nolde.
“She hikes Nolde almost every day and has a love of all living creatures. Her photography skills are amazing and she posts many of her pictures on the Friends Facebook page and website.”
Last year, Stinson said, Englert expressed a desire to develop a pollinator meadow, close to where Turtle Pond is located.
“We have started a fundraiser to pay for the mass amounts of seeds, plants and equipment that will be needed to create this meadow,” Stinson said. “Tina is one of the nicest, most diligent, creative and innovative people I know. I am honored to be her friend and fellow volunteer.”
Recently Englert started a website about the plants of Nolde https://noldeplants.wordpress.com. It’s an ongoing project, she said.
Englert is a Pennsylvania Master Naturalist.
She said her studies exposed her to the world of botany and when she returned to her favorite park to apply what she learned she discovered how difficult it was to find information to aid in her quest.
“Nolde Forest is a beautiful Pennsylvania state park with a variety of habitats, and thus a variety of plants,” she wrote on the website. “My goal is to photograph and identify as many plants as possible, and then share them via this site so that others can more easily begin to discover the adventure of plant identification.
“When you take your first walk in the woods, so many plants look alike, and it can be overwhelming to figure out what everything is. I think you will find (as I did) that if you start small and learn one plant at a time, suddenly a whole new adventure awaits you each time you venture outside.”
The best part of volunteering?
“The people we work with are so much fun,” Englert said.
Erb said volunteers are crucial to Nolde, and to all state parks and forests.
Volunteers are the eyes and ears of the park, helping the understaffed parks maintain trails and serve the community.
Englert is a member of Friends of Nolde Forest.
The 40-member group is dedicated to supporting the state park.
Volunteer opportunities are diverse: giving tours of the Nolde mansion; assisting with creating or clearing trails; improving wildlife habitat; cleaning and stabilizing stream banks; planting trees and flowers; repairing foot bridges; improving accessibility to recreational areas; installing park signs; and performing light maintenance.