On 11/29/2025, AYLUS volunteers went to the Nature Garden in Bethpage State Park to help corporate with volunteer coordinators to create a new pathway from 9:00am to 11:00am (2 hours).
First, the volunteers get prepared by putting on gloves and getting either an iron rake or a lopper. Then, they marched into the area where it’s full of mainly English ivy. The volunteers and the volunteer coordinators’ main goal today is to create a new pathway from the entrance of the garden to the golf field. The volunteers with the iron rakes and the volunteers with loppers cooperated together: the English ivy and leaves from trees were raked, so the roots of the plants would be easier for volunteers with loppers to spot on and cut because the volunteers doing the raking can’t get rid of all of the roots by themselves. People with the loppers also need to cut to get rid the of vines with spikes that strikes out and excessive branches that people might walk into and get hurt. Finally, everything that’s cut and raked are put into a bag and dumped into a small truck to be transported away.
Expanding the garden with pathways is not harmful to the environment or the ecosystem because all the plants the volunteers removed today are invasives. In fact, the whole garden was full of invasives a couple of years ago, and it was the volunteers and volunteer coordinators who cleared out the place and replaced the invasive plants, which were mainly English ivy, with native plants. This activity is helpful for the environment; the local species, whether they’re animals or plants; and people, especially students in the nearby elementary school to understand and interact with nature better.
Members who participated include: Yingxiang Liu (2h), Yuya Liu (2h), Felicia Liu (2h), Lukang He (2h), Sumeng Liu (2h)
Reporter: Felicia Liu
