On Saturday, August 23th, from 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM, volunteers from AYLUS Oakland Gardens Branch went to Kissena Park to remove invasive species. This was our 188th event. We worked in a fenced off area by the lake. Under the guidance of Roxanna, we helped make a difference in our local environment.
Members were separated into two groups. The first group was high schoolers, which went into the area first. The second group was the younger kids, which were the middle schoolers and elementary schoolers. We had to be careful, as Roxanna warned us of a risk of poison ivy. Although she checked the area beforehand for poison ivy, and she didn’t find any, it was still crucial to be careful.
We used different tools such as loppers for cutting tougher plants, shovels to dig up roots, and pitchforks. The location in which we were working had a heavy population of mogwart, which was crowding out other plants. To fix this issue, we worked as a team to remove the mogwart.
Roxanna and Ada also taught us how to remove the mogwart. If there was a big group of vines, you needed to try and find the center/roots. After finding it, you had to pull it out from the root to ensure it would not grow back. If the root was too tough, you would have to use a lopper to cut through them. You could also use a shovel to dig them up.
To make sure that the mogwart would not grow back after being removed, we threw them into either bags or a truck in which would dispose of them. If we threw them on the ground, they could spread even further, leading to more crowding of the plants. We also had to remove all parts of the plant, including the root.
Thank you to all of our members, and the parent advisors who helped out in this event. Thank you to Roxanna, Ada, and Mattias for teaching us. We really appreciate all of your dedication.
Our Volunteers:
1. Angela Liu: 3.5 hours
2. Alfred Liu: 3.5 hours
3. Sophia You: 3.5 hours
4. Stephanie You: 3.5 hours
5. Ricky Song: 3.5 hours
6. Zhiheng Zhou: 3.5 hours
7. Alexander Lu: 3.5 hours
8. Sophia Lu: 3.5 hours
9. Jason Liu: 3.5 hours
10. Kobe Zheng: 3.5 hours
11. Abby Zheng: 3.5 hours
12. Zhanger Li: 3.5 hours
13. Kaisa Wu: 3.5 hours
14. Benny Yeung: 3.5 hours
15. Patrick Yeung: 3.5 hours
16. Sophia Xu: 3.5 hours
17. Anthony Xu: 3.5 hours
18. Janice Ma: 3.5 hours
19. Evan Li: 3.5 hours
20. Mohan Luo: 3.5 hours
21. Aidan Zheng: 3.5 hours
22. Evelyn Yuan: 3.5 hours
23. Selena Zheng: 3.5 hours
24. Jayden Chen: 3.5 hours
25. Luke Chen: 3.5 hours
26. Jierui Liu: 3.5 hours
27. Eason Lin: 3.5 hours
28. Aiden Lin: 3.5 hours
29. Brandon Lin: 3.5 hours
30. Eric Zheng: 3.5 hours
31. Tianxiang Ding: 3.5 hours
32. Zhuoning Li: 3.5 hours
33. Zihan Shi: 3.5 hours
34. Ivan Cao: 3.5 hours
35. Jerry Shan: 3.5 hours
36. Amy Liu: 3.5 hours
37. Austin Li: 3.5 hours
38. Tian Zhu Xie: 3.5 hours
39. Bowen Chen: 3.5 hours
40. Linke Peng: 3.5 hours
41. Yilin Peng: 3.5 hours
42. Matthew Lin: 3.5 hours
43. Yuyan Fan: 3.5 hours
44. Cynthia Shi: 3.5 hours
45. Tiffany Kong: 3.5 hours
46. Yiming Chen: 3.5 hours
47. Tyrone Li: 3 hours
48. Fayee Chen: 3 hours
49. Yue Yu: 3 hours
50. Teng Yu: 3 hours
51. Cindy Siegel: 3 hours
Parent Adviser Team:
Fannie Li: 5 hours
Karen Liao: 5 hours
Faye Liu: 5 hours
Report Written by: Sophia ShiHan You
Reviewed by: Jia Qi (Angela) Liu
