One of the very first lessons I learned from my parents was the importance and value of saying, "Thank you."

"Thank you," I'd turn around and yell to my bus driver who dropped me off at the front entrance of school.

"Thank you," I'd say to my friend who shared his orange crayon with me during art class.

"Thank you," I'd murmur, even as the cafeteria lady loaded my lunch tray up with a mushy scoop of peas.

Studies by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published on PsyBlog demonstrate the power of these two words. According to one study, a person that has helped out another is more than twice as likely to help out again in the future if thanked. "The act of saying thank you reassures the helper that their help is valued and motivates them to provide more," the study confirms.

Carolina Thread Trail Forum: “Building a Legacy”

Mooresville, NC – Charles Mack Citizen Center

December 8, 2011

http://www.carolinathreadtrail.org/news-and-events/events-calendar/

May, 2011. Picture taking your children to a neighborhood park with the whole package in tow: bikes, picnic lunches, possibly the family dog, and that nifty new camera that desperately needs to be broken in.

Here’s a would-you-rather (one of our favorite ways to kick-start an article): would you rather walk around the edges of the ponds and wetland areas with a viewing platform to look over the water?  Or would you like to be surrounded by water as you stroll over a boardwalk through wetlands?  Woolpert Inc. and West Chester Township’s recent decision to request an additional section of PermaTrak™ boardwalk would enable you to do both!

May, 2011.  If someone says the word “boardwalk” to you, what kind of images are likely to pop up?  A low-lying structure through sand dunes, leading to the beach?  Perhaps a family vacation picture on a boardwalk at Myrtle or Atlantic Beach, a section of golf cart path, or a walking trail through swamps and wetland areas.  For our society’s sake, hopefully MTV’s Jersey Shore TV show doesn’t crack the top 5!  Most wouldn’t think of an urban setting for a boardwalk, but we’re out to change that.

PermaTrak™ North America is pleased to announce its support of West Chester Township’s Phase III development initiatives at Beckett Park in southeastern Ohio. PermaTrak’s multi-use concrete boardwalk will connect with existing trail systems, providing increased access to the park’s meadows, wetlands and extended ponds. The finished project will provide a path to restroom facilities, parking areas, a picnic shelter with fireplace, and children’s playground area.

Woolpert Inc., an engineering design and consulting firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio, worked with PermaTrak to draw up plans for 60 linear feet of an 11-foot wide boardwalk, as well as a 110 square foot deck suspended over one of Beckett Park’s ponds.

Hilton Head’s Mellow Mushroom restaurant preserves its live oak tree root system through creative construction with PermaTrak™ precast concrete.

Developing property amidst a delicate area filled with historic live oaks can be difficult to negotiate. Hilton Head’s towering oak trees provide an excellent habitat for local wildlife, making it a requirement for town designers and planners to “limit construction and disturbance within the drip line of the trees,” according to Chris Darnell, Project Manager from J.K. Tiller Associates, Inc.

J.K. Tiller connected with PermaTrak, a premier provider of environmentally-friendly precast boardwalk, through an ASLA trade show in Columbia, SC. Last summer, Darnell worked with Jason Philbin, a professional engineer and PermaTrak’s Vice President, to design an elevated walkway that would run along the back wall of a proposed upscale pizza restaurant, the Mellow Mushroom.

September 27, 2010. PermaTrak North America has been awarded the boardwalk project at Judaculla Rock by North Carolina’s Jackson County Recreation/Parks Department.

The Judaculla Rock Preservation Project is a restoration effort aimed at preventing further environmental damage to Judaculla Rock, protecting the surrounding land and water, and respecting the natural character and integrity of the site – all while enhancing the visitor experience.

Judaculla Rock is located in a 15-acre site that was once a prehistoric Native American settlement. This ancient soapstone boulder, covered with deeply-etched petroglyphs of unknown origin, dates back to 1000–200 B.C. and contributes archeological significance to the area. Cherokee legend attributes the markings to a giant being who left his foot and hand prints on the rock.

On Thursday, April 22, 2010, the PermaTrak East Coast Tour concluded its run down the east coast in Bradenton, Florida. The PermaTrak team made 15 presentations in as many cities reaching landscape architects, planners, engineers, and public agency employees of public works and parks and recreation departments. Over 300 attendees met the PermaTrak team, while having the opportunity to feel, touch and see a life size 10 ft run of 7’-6” wide boardwalk complete with the standard PermaTrak components. The optional precast pier foundation, colored and textured treads were also on display.

The Rocla PermaTrak® concrete boardwalk system underwent a baptism by fire in January 2008, when a bushfire engulfed the boardwalk in a native vegetation reserve at Comet Bay, WA.

The PermaTrak® boardwalk is part of a walking track through the reserve, which forms part of the new Comet Bay College campus. The boardwalk survived the fire undamaged and unmarked.

Landscape architect Stuart Pullyblank of Urbis Landscape Architects said the concrete system was specified for its permanence and low maintenance, as well as its imperviousness to fire and termites. “Timber is not so permanent in the dry climate around Perth, where it cracks and breaks, and jarrah is too scarce and valuable for applications like this.”

Sutherland Shire Council, south of Sydney, used the Rocla PermaTrak® concrete boardwalk system to enhance an urban park at Caringbah.

The PermaTrak® system was originally specified to minimise damage to exposed tree roots. Existing mature trees provided a pleasant shaded area, but were in danger of root damage from a conventional concrete pavement.

The steel-reinforced concrete treads and bearers of the PermaTrak® boardwalk system are supported on small concrete stumps that can be spaced at two or three metre intervals to suit site restrictions.