Scottdale volunteer praised for efforts to boost local watershed, preserve architecture

A discarded nail punctured Jonathan Fox’s foot in June, but the wince-inducing wound merely caused an intermission in the Scottdale man’s daylong efforts on behalf of the Jacobs Creek Watershed Association.

Fox’s dedication to the group on that day and many others has earned him recognition as the nonprofit association’s Jim Smith Volunteer of the Year for 2019.

“He’s so resourceful and helpful,” watershed association Programs Manager Mary Kaufman said of Fox. “He makes all the things we do more fun.”

Fox, 55, vividly recalls stepping on the nail while taking part in an association litter cleanup along Woods Road, bordering the creek in Upper Tyrone, Fayette County. He blames the injury, in part, on his choice of hiking shoes instead of more protective work boots.

“I didn’t have the good shoes I normally take with me on a cleanup,” he said. “About mid-morning, I got a nail right up through my foot. It went up in pretty good.”

Managing to ride his bicycle back home, he went to a local emergency room to get the wound treated.

“The ER physician said it wouldn’t hurt (medically) to walk on it,” he said. “I was limping. It was uncomfortable. Every time I took a step, it reminded me to wear better shoes. It was one of life’s learning lessons.”

Comfort aside, Fox was back in volunteer action that afternoon, helping to inflate rafts at one of the association’s Family Float Day events on Jacobs Creek.

Fox has taken part in many other watershed group activities — including collections of old tires, educational programs and tree-planting efforts. A familiar figure riding his bicycle on local trails and to most watershed association events, the Scottdale native is “a recycling, conservation and health inspiration,” said Kaufman.

She recalled that he made an extra trip on his bike to fetch a post-driving tool that made a tree-planting “10 times easier.”

Fox paddled a canoe on area lakes while he was growing up because Jacobs Creek, at the time, was “horribly polluted,” he said. “It was an orangey color, just an eyesore of a stream.”

He began volunteering about five years ago with the watershed association, which is dedicated to rehabilitation of the creek and its 98-square-mile watershed, along with conservation of local natural resources and promotion of water recreation.

Through the efforts of the watershed, Fox said, the creek now has “much cleaner water” and supports such species as muskrats, kingfishers, ducks and great blue herons.

“I like being with like-minded people with a common goal — to clean up the stream and make it as nice as it is today,” he said.

During continuing cleanup efforts, he said, “Every year there seems to be less and less trash, so that’s a sign of hope.”

In addition to helping conserve Jacobs Creek and its natural surroundings, Fox spends many hours preserving his community’s historic architecture.

He gained a love for such work while in high school, taking part in reconstruction of a picket fence and other summer projects at the historic West Overton Village and Museum just northeast of Scottdale. The village, settled by Mennonites, was the site of an early whiskey distillery and the 1849 birthplace of industrialist Henry Clay Frick.

With a degree in historic preservation from Penn State and his own related business, Preservation Carpentry, Fox has returned to work at West Overton. His most recent projects include helping to create a 1940s living-room display in the museum and restoring a 19th-century double-hung window from the Overholt Homestead.

“The glass was not too bad,” Fox said of the window. “It’s the wood and the glazing, mainly.” After preserving the pine window frame with a mixture of turpentine and boiled linseed oil, he explained, he’ll repair pegs that secure its mortise and tenon joints and replace deteriorating putty to fix the glass panes back in place.

Fox also completed extensive work at the Scottdale Historical Society’s headquarters, restoring the 1830s Peter Loucks House back to its 1880s Victorian-era prime. His wife, Kimberly, also is involved with the group, serving as its treasurer.

Working sometimes under contract but many times as a volunteer, Fox combined original architectural elements with salvaged period and modern reproduction pieces to refurbish water-damaged flooring and remake the kitchen into a space that combines up-to-date functionality with a period look.

“I believe strongly in reusing materials and not wasting things,” Fox said. That includes a salvaged lighting fixture that he paired with a reproduction of an early “squirrel cage” bulb.

Fox is “a great partner and supporter of the historical society,” said the group’s president, Tom Zwierzelewski. “For some projects, we were able to contract him, but he always goes above and beyond and does extra.

“In an emergency, if something goes wrong, he’s there to volunteer and help in a heartbeat.”

“It seems like I’ve been really blessed to work for creative, talented folks,” said Fox. “It’s nice to make their dreams come alive.”

The watershed association’s Volunteer of the Year award is named for the late Jim Smith of Connellsville, a dedicated volunteer, recycler, outdoor enthusiast and craftsman who was known for his hand-made turkey calls.