Students in the Carpentry and Construction Trades class from the Ellicottville Career and Technical Center recently built a shelter at the trailhead of the Ellicottville-Great Valley Recreational Trail. The structure is located by the parking lot at the Town Center/Nannen Arboretum on Fillmore Avenue. Shown are the students participating in the project. Front, from left: Matt Buckley, Conner Fitzpatrick, Shannon Gannon, John Hudson, teacher Terry Fuller, Matt Nutall, Sam Jacobi, Gerrott Hutchson. Back, from left: Ryan Shipherd and Adam Gannon. Submitted photo

ELLICOTTVILLE — The Carpentry and Construction Trades class at Ellicottville Career and Technical Center have benefited the community, once again, by using their skills to build a shelter at the trailhead of the Ellicottville-Great Valley Recreational Trail that is currently under construction.

Under the supervision of instructor Terry Fuller, his students recently built the structure located just off the parking lot at the Town Center/Nannen Arboretum on Fillmore Avenue.

Fuller said the project came about when Ken Hinman, founder of the trail committee, contacted him last April and asked him if his class would be interested in working on the trail head shelter. He was definitely interested but, before he agreed to have the class do it, he suggested they get together and look at the plans to see what exactly they were getting into.

“So, I met with Ken and Amy Detine, president of the EVL trail committee, and after looking at the plans, I thought it was something we (the class) certainly could do, especially since it was close by,” he said.

When Hinman mentioned that the committee would look into larch lumber for the project, Fuller told him the tech center had access to a lot of larch logs. He said it’s the lumber used by the students for their building construction because it’s rot-resistant, so it was the ideal choice to be used for the shelter.

After Natural Resources Instructor Dave Swaciak approved the use of the lumber, in mid-April, this year’s seniors from the Carpentry and Construction Trades class sawed all the lumber for the entire project and donated it to the shelter project.

Fuller and Hinman met with Town Supervisor Matthew McAndrew and Town Engineer Mark Alianello who drew up the plans, in mid-September, to talk about the project.

“I met with the engineer because there were some things I thought we could do a little bit different than what was on the plans, but still be sufficient in the support of the structure,” he said. “He was fine with any of the changes we wanted to make.”

Fuller’s entire class of 10 students participated in the construction that began the third week in September. They visited the site a few days ahead of time to determine where the holes would be dug and, after they were dug, they set the posts 42-inches into the ground.

Under Fuller’s direction, his class worked on the project two or three days a week — depending on the weather and transportation. They worked about an hour and 15 minutes each time, then would have to return to the tech center.

According to Fuller, the shelter as 30-feet long by 12-feet deep with a roof over one section that’s 8-feet wide by 12-feet deep.

The covered section is the actual shelter and, eventually, the class will close the backend, then add benches and bulletin boards.

There is an open pergola that matches the entryway to the arboretum on the left. The entire structure connects the arboretum entry with the edge of the trail entrance.

“The building is about 95 percent complete and we’re in the process of putting cedar shakes on the roof, which are also rot resistant,” he said. “We were almost done with it, but Mother Nature got in the way. If we get a good thaw and the snow melts, we’ll go back down and finish it up.”

Fuller said one more section will be added to the structure in the future. It will be attached on the right side and extended out another 12-feet wide by 12-feet deep. To have room for the equipment used to clear the trail, the final phase of the shelter’s construction will have to wait.

“This was a good project because the students learned a lot about layout, framing, posts, support and different types of wood,” he said. “The kids were great. I mean, they were absolutely phenomenal. Everybody was into it and they wanted to go and work on it.”

According to Fuller, the structure is for anyone on the trail to use year-round whether they are hiking, biking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, walking or jogging.

There is currently no signage indicating who built the structure, but Fuller said there will be. Once it’s completed, the plan is to have a sign and a framed picture of the students who constructed it.

The completed master plan for the trail outlines a proposed 15-mile network of trails that will run throughout the village and town of Ellicottville and extend south to Ellicottville Central School and into Great Valley.

The hope is that one day the trail network will reach as far east as Holiday Valley’s Tubing Park on Route 242, as far west as HoliMont Ski Resort, and as far south to the Great Valley Town Hall.

Plans for the Ellicottville-Great Valley Recreational Trail and fundraising efforts can be found by visiting the trail committee’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/evltrail.

More information about the career and technical education programs offered by the Ellicottville, Olean and Belmont centers can be found at caboces.org.