Happy to say that the Saturday, April 5, 2014, Elks Run tree planting and park clean was a success on several fronts. Again we had 50 volunteers for the planting and clean up.
Big thanks to Jim and Lee for arriving early to auger holes and get the ball rolling, Suzy for being the lead at the tree planting site, Ryan and Rod for doing whatever was needed including picking trees up Friday and making the donut and coffee run, Jeff for ferrying people from the community center to the planting site, Susannah for showing up on her birthday and always bringing cheer (I found one of your gloves and have it here at home :)), Bill and Nancy for filming so that we can continue telling the story, Shawn for what I hear was a great tutorial on tree planting, Maxine for taking pictures at the clean up site, Ellen Hall for playing a central role involving the scout troops to include Troop 83 and Pack 42, Jefferson HS National Honor Society, and everyone else for being so supportive of Elks Run Watershed Group. And of course thank you Jennifer Myers for a wonderful partnership between Jefferson County Parks and Recreation and Elks Run Watershed Group.
Boyscout pack 42 showed up with about 20 of those volunteers—they had a great time turning trash clean up into a treasure hunt, finding LOTS of baseballs, and some tires and a refrigerator door! Billy from the solid waste authority was wonderful taking the lead on working with the kids when all he was obligated to do was haul away the trash.
The tree plantings continue to be a win on all fronts—more trees in the ground, greater awareness brought to the watershed, fun way to involve the community in caring for the watershed, educational, opportunity to partner with other community groups and meet new people—all good.
So a final BIG thank you to the Cacapon Institute and Project CommuniTree, WV Make it Shine and The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay Project Clean Stream! You make it easy and fun.
Beth Brent
Elks Run Watershed Group, Coordinator
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