On Saturday, January 13, from 9:30AM – 12:00PM, the Roslyn AYLUS branch helped remove invasive bamboo at the Valley Stream State Park.
At the Valley Stream State Park, there is a large amount of bamboo located near the edge of the park. This bamboo is invasive and was starting to cross over the fence into the surrounding neighborhood, therefore we helped out the park in removing many bamboo stalks. We couldn’t begin immediately, however, as a truck was stuck in the mud near where the bamboo was growing. When we got the location the bamboo was, about half of the group used loppers and saws to cut down the thick bamboo, while the rest of the group formed a chain in order to efficiently move bamboo from the forest, across a makeshift bridge, and into a large pile which would later be carried away by a truck. We wore gloves and goggles to protect our hands and eyes, respectively. We had to make sure to cut the bamboo near the base in order to avoid the bamboo shoots poking through somebodies shoe. We also had to cut the bamboo stalks into many smaller pieces in order to make it much easier to be passed along the chain. While passing the stalks along the chain, the leaves were by far the most annoying part because they would make it hard to grab the stalks and poke your face. Near the end of our time at Valley Stream, everybody worked together in order to move bamboo from the pile into the truck.
I thought this experience was fun. While working, people were sharing fun facts about bamboo and gave out water and mandarins. I thought it was satisfying seeing the large area we cleared out and how it looked so different from when we first got there. Passing bamboo along the chain taught us that if we worked together, we could get things done much faster and more efficiently.
Members who participated include:
Hunter Chen (2.5 hours) and Brian Xiong (2.5 hours)
Reporter: Brian Xiong
