On August 12, from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM, volunteers from the AYLUS Great Neck Branch volunteered at Nissequogue River State Park Greenhouse and Nursery to cut invasive plants as well as retrieve leftover flower pots.
Nissequogue Park greenhouse have a long history, dating back to the early 1900’s when it was first made to be an asylum. However, since its establishment, a lot of the previous lands have fallen into disrepair mainly due to invasive plants like mugworts and wineberry. As a result, people in charge of the park now are trying to repair and revitalize some of the spots lost to invasive plants by clearing them out—exactly what we’re doing today.
Removing the invasive plants are not the only goal of today’s mission, however, as there are many debris and pots lost in the midst of these plants waiting to be retrieved. As to where the pots came from, they were extras stored outside at what used to be the extension of the nursery. Overtime, they’ve been trapped by the ever growing invasive plants. Many of the pots and debris are broken, but among those are many usable ones, which can save resources for the greenhouse. Moreover, Nissequogue State Park have also provided these pots to other state parks, increasing their planting capacity.
Through the cutting of invasive plants as well as the removal of the leftover pots, today’s activities is beneficial not only to the greenhouse itself, but to the environment of different parts of our community. Although it was a hot day, we worked hard and accomplished many things. I’m very proud of our branch for participating in such a meaningful operation.
Members who participated (2.5hrs): Fanxi Xia, Zixi Xia, Junbo Hu, Feier Xu, Amy Sun
