By David Kuckuk, Maywood Park Director
Earth Day at Maywood – Saturday, April 21, 2018
We started the day off at 7:30 when Eagle Scout candidate Justin Swigert and his dad Mike began setting up for their crew of about 30 people. Their project was to put in a Tiki Torch Trail that we’ll put into use next fall/winter to do illuminated night hikes, snowshoe walks, and cross country ski outings.
At 9:00, high school students from Warriner High School began arriving to set up their exhibits for a Science Fair that they put on from 11:00 – 2:00. There were approximately 75 people in attendance for the Science Fair.
At 1:30 approximately 40 people from the general public came out and to help with the following projects:
- Dismantle the maple sugaring setup for the season
- Put up new murals on the side of our Prairie Overlook, which were created by students from Lake Country Academy
- Prepare the purple martin house for another season of nesting
- Pull garlic mustard, which is an undesirable invasive species
- Construct wire tree tubes to protect the trees being planted on Arbor Day at Maywood
- Rake dead vegetation from the Maywood pond
- Plant prairie seed
- Haul and stack firewood
- Remove old erosion netting no longer needed
- Pick up litter
- Remove buckthorn, which is an invasive species
All in all, a great day for Maywood. View the event photos HERE.
Arbor Day at Maywood – Saturday, April 28, 2018
More than 100 volunteers came to plant 220 trees, among other projects, to commemorate Arbor Day. Since Maywood became a park in 1983, over 25,000 trees have been planted to restore the property from the barren farm and pasture land into numerous distinct habitats. As a result, Maywood has seen many species of wildlife return to the property. Great blue herons, green herons, Eastern bluebirds, otters, and mink are just some of the species that use Maywood for their homes now that tiled and agricultural fields have been restored to native vegetation. View the event photos HERE.