Dear Friends,
We started at 8:00 a.m. last Saturday and were done by 10:00 a.m. thanks to Kathy, Elisa, Mark, Sean, Robert, and Caroline who grabbed garbage bags and scattered downriver, to the beach, and onto the hiking trail, as well as walked the levees to pick up trash, empty garbage cans and get things looking good by the time the visitors arrived. There was a little excitement as our resident coyote left the mound and came down to wander on the levees and bike trail - he was totally unconcerned that he had an audience watching his every move. Kathy came back from the hiking trail to report a friendly encounter with a rattlesnake (his rattle was about 2 inches long). She said they reached a mutual agreement that she should just leave the trash she was reaching for, and move along. Not a problem, she said.
For my part, I felt like it was Christmas in June at SLP. When I arrived, the City Parks' staff was hard at work power washing the Gateway Garden's cement, asphalt and monuments! It took him about 3 and one half hours to get the job done, and and what a great job he did. What a difference!
SLP has porta potties now - there are two regular and one handicapped. Yea! Thank you, again, City Parks, for making this happen - they are badly needed.
Most of all, I want to give a special thank you to Kathleen and Elisa for working on getting the grapevine out of the elderberry this week. The star, though, we all agree, is Steve who took on the job of removing the tangle of very old, thick and tangled grapevine on the interior of the elderberry. The job was tough and time consuming, and saved the vine removal crew a big headache. We are going to open up the elderberry, clean up the ground, weed whip the dried grasses and hopefully create a nice space for people to gather - the shade from the grand valley oaks along with the elderberry is pure pleasure on a hot day.
And very important are the volunteers who go over on Sunday to clean up the trash left behind by the late beach crowd the night before. Thank you to Kathleen and Tom for working on Sunday - Tom is continuing to work on the star thistle in the restoration site. Elisa checked out the beach area on Monday and we do have a trash problem from the Sunday visitors. Mark keeps SLP trash free through the week. I know we have other volunteers who make a point of picking up trash when they go over to walk or enjoy the water. Keep us posted on your experience and observations.
We are going to work again this Saturday. We beat the heat last Saturday by starting at 8:00 a.m, and we will start again at 8:00 a.m. this coming Saturday, 6/26. We need to pick up trash, weed the Gateway Garden, and continue working on carefully pulling the grapevine out of the elderberry.
I hope everyone is enjoying working at SLP as much as I am. Our volunteers are the best.
Be well and safe.
Thank you for all of your help,
Betsy
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We started at 8:00 a.m. last Saturday and were done by 10:00 a.m. thanks to Kathy, Elisa, Mark, Sean, Robert, and Caroline who grabbed garbage bags and scattered downriver, to the beach, and onto the hiking trail, as well as walked the levees to pick up trash, empty garbage cans and get things looking good by the time the visitors arrived. There was a little excitement as our resident coyote left the mound and came down to wander on the levees and bike trail - he was totally unconcerned that he had an audience watching his every move. Kathy came back from the hiking trail to report a friendly encounter with a rattlesnake (his rattle was about 2 inches long). She said they reached a mutual agreement that she should just leave the trash she was reaching for, and move along. Not a problem, she said.
For my part, I felt like it was Christmas in June at SLP. When I arrived, the City Parks' staff was hard at work power washing the Gateway Garden's cement, asphalt and monuments! It took him about 3 and one half hours to get the job done, and and what a great job he did. What a difference!
SLP has porta potties now - there are two regular and one handicapped. Yea! Thank you, again, City Parks, for making this happen - they are badly needed.
Most of all, I want to give a special thank you to Kathleen and Elisa for working on getting the grapevine out of the elderberry this week. The star, though, we all agree, is Steve who took on the job of removing the tangle of very old, thick and tangled grapevine on the interior of the elderberry. The job was tough and time consuming, and saved the vine removal crew a big headache. We are going to open up the elderberry, clean up the ground, weed whip the dried grasses and hopefully create a nice space for people to gather - the shade from the grand valley oaks along with the elderberry is pure pleasure on a hot day.
And very important are the volunteers who go over on Sunday to clean up the trash left behind by the late beach crowd the night before. Thank you to Kathleen and Tom for working on Sunday - Tom is continuing to work on the star thistle in the restoration site. Elisa checked out the beach area on Monday and we do have a trash problem from the Sunday visitors. Mark keeps SLP trash free through the week. I know we have other volunteers who make a point of picking up trash when they go over to walk or enjoy the water. Keep us posted on your experience and observations.
We are going to work again this Saturday. We beat the heat last Saturday by starting at 8:00 a.m, and we will start again at 8:00 a.m. this coming Saturday, 6/26. We need to pick up trash, weed the Gateway Garden, and continue working on carefully pulling the grapevine out of the elderberry.
I hope everyone is enjoying working at SLP as much as I am. Our volunteers are the best.
Be well and safe.
Thank you for all of your help,
Betsy
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Preliminary info follows from the 6/26 clean-up.
The trash generated at SLP every weekend is jaw dropping. And think - we have a lot of people who are now picking up their trash and actually throwing it away, and we still end up with garbage strewn around. At 4:00 p.m. yesterday Tom and Jesus spent two and a half hours in the heat cleaning up and loading the brush piles! Families and those coming to "party" were still coming from 4-6 PM and as late as 9 PM and beyond. There has already been impressive follow-up work the next day including collecting a raft full of trash from across the river by Jax and owner over 6 hours! Many thanks to all participants. “Every day is clean up day!!!”
Photos by Kathleen unless otherwise noted.
Preliminary info follows from the 6/26 clean-up.
The trash generated at SLP every weekend is jaw dropping. And think - we have a lot of people who are now picking up their trash and actually throwing it away, and we still end up with garbage strewn around. At 4:00 p.m. yesterday Tom and Jesus spent two and a half hours in the heat cleaning up and loading the brush piles! Families and those coming to "party" were still coming from 4-6 PM and as late as 9 PM and beyond. There has already been impressive follow-up work the next day including collecting a raft full of trash from across the river by Jax and owner over 6 hours! Many thanks to all participants. “Every day is clean up day!!!”
Photos by Kathleen unless otherwise noted.
No piles of cut brush remain under oaks and elderberries!!!
“Every day is clean up day!!!”
All but two of the life vests were left at the beach –until retrieved and returned here.
6 person raft filled with trash from across the river! Photo by Mark
Happy Birthday Jax and goodbye to several hundred pounds of trash! Photo by Mark.
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