From the Chair: Spring has sprung!

Below is a message from GMPT Chair Gina Hugo. You can reach her at gina.hugo@co.sherburne.mn.us.

So many sights, sounds, smells, and activities signal that spring is here! Hearing the song of Red-winged Black Birds, watching the return of the Sandhill Cranes, bicycling without gloves, and the smell of prairie burns are all sensations I welcome each year—like long-lost friends!

Along with spring showers and May flowers, parks can be flush with volunteers, and it is important to stay creative with presenting cleanup opportunities that are within our capacity.

As for ideas, the Communications Team is here to help! See below for our top tips:

• Adopt-a-Park Program – Create a format for groups or families to “adopt” a park of section of trail and commit to visiting 1 time per month to carry out basic stewardship. Provide basic tools to make jobs easier and encourage disposing of collected solid waste or tree debris.
• Park Clean-Ups – Create clean-up kits that groups, families, and individuals can check out for standalone volunteer events.
• Event Outreach – Connect with Community Events or Earth Day Events for areas of high need.
• Trail Clean-Ups – Organize volunteer tasks that include sweeping or scooping of accumulated sand/gravel and removal of fallen tree debris.
• Peeling Logs – You read that right. We have pulled volunteers in on for two consecutive years is peeling logs! Red cedars are constantly being edited out of our oak savanna and prairie habitats as we work to “restore fire”—the restoration of fire-dependent plant communities that have not been able to be burned as they should. We also can make great use of the trunks for decay resistance, gorgeous posts and poles for signage, and nature play storage systems. The key is cutting in early spring and stripping the bark, and the results are stunning!

Have other creative volunteer activity ideas? We would love to hear about them! Please send your ideas to greatermnparkstrails@gmail.com—we will be sure to share them with our membership.