On Saturday from 9:00 am -12:00 pm, the Roslyn Branch helped out at the cleanup at the Valley Stream State Park.
We helped George Kiesel, the environmental stewardship assistance of the New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation in the environmental cleanup. Every week they help out at a different state park.
Trish, an expert on botanical affairs, educated us on the importance of rain gardens and showed us a new gardening technique, we set off to work. Using shovels to dig a ridge around the rain garden, we successfully ‘built’ a wall that traps runoff and decrease erosion as well as lessen contaminants that get dumped into groundwater. Squeezing the side of the pots loosens the soil inside, allowing us to up-pot the plants. Once they’re out, we use gardening forks to make the stiff dirt loose and to uncoil the tangled roots that took the shape of the pot after spending an eternity inside the confinement. Digging holes in the ground is not as easy as cartoons make it to be, and the soil on the sides constantly slips back in, undoing whatever progress you made so far. Luckily, with the usage of the correct tools and a lot of team work, we managed to plant small trees and other plants. After finishing at the rain gardens, we helped rake the leaves in the park, leaving autumn’s footprints in large piles dispersed across the great lawns. This task is enjoyed by many and the sight of thick blankets of leaves revealing the tufts of grass is very satisfying to watch.
Members who participated include:
Yang Amy Wu (3 hours), Tiffany Lin (3 hours), Fanxi Xia (3 hours), Zixi Xia (3 hours), and Zihan Wang (3 hours).
Reporter: Yang Amy Wu
