week one recap

ok, so i was going to try and update my blog every day; but, then i realized that was sort of impossible and would be seriously boring, instead, i have decided to update it weekly now that i'm doing projects.
so, week one of my project. our team worked at bluff lake nature center and the greenway urban park. the two parks are sort of partners because they're so close to each other and since they're both non profit they work together in order to share materials and supplies and to raise money.
monday thru thursday we worked at bluff lake nature center where for the first two days we cleaned up a field that had piles and piles of russian olive trees everywhere that needed to be moved. we also picked seeds off of bushes and then planted the seeds where the trees had been in order to grow grass and plants.

 

wednesday, our team was asked to build a fence. the park is off of a main road that collects a lot of trash. the trash flows into the storm drain which feeds into the head of the park lake. the trash then flows down the river and all over the lake it almost impossible to clean it all up. so, we dug holes for wooden posts and then a wire netting was attached to the posts and the fence was made. it was located at the very head of the lake so that then it can catch all the trash and still let water flow through but the lake won't be dirty. it took all day and was really hard with tons of big rocks filling the ground but we finally got it done!

thursday and friday we went to the urban park where we were asked to help. this park is also located on a river. this river has tons of beavers and they're becoming a huge problem. the native trees are called cottonwoods and the beavers love them. they chew down a ridiculous number of them every year. the other really popular tree but not a native is the russian olive. unfortunately, the beavers do not eat this trees. at all. and the trees are taking over. so, we went in to help! our first task was to find the cottonwoods that had been fenced off so the beavers wouldn't get them. the trees grow so fast that they often grow over the fences and so they're rather pointless. so, we found the trees, removed the fence and then painted the trees up to our chest. evidently, if you take paint, water and sand and mix it together and paint the trees the beavers will not eat the trees. they hate the sand and the taste of it all so they leave them alone. so we painted i don't even know how many trees! our next task was to remove the russian olives that were taking over the park. the park spans fourteen miles of the river so we didn't get very much done but we did get a nice bit!

 needless to say, by the end of everyday we were worn out!

besides doing our normal work, we also have to get ISP (individual service projects) hours. this can be any sort of working like helping at a food bank, nursing home, working on a house for habitat, or what we did- working at a humane society. the place we went to saved puppies from humane societies that were about to put them to sleep. they take the puppies and then on saturday's and sunday's they have adoptions. there were so many puppies and people who came to adopt them. most of the puppies were adopted and they said the rest will probably be adopted tomorrow. the thing i like most about this place was that they don't put any dogs to sleep. they all get adopted. we liked the place so much that we're going back on thursday to help since we don't have to work and then also on the second weekend of december. we loved it there!

overall, this was a great week! i hope everyone else had a great week too!
xoxo,
B