Missouri Conservation Corps first got involved in Columbia’s Again Street Park back in August, when we partnered with park neighbor Caleb O’Brien and the Love Your Block Foundation to organize a volunteer habitat project in the park. Our mission was to cut and remove invasive honeysuckle in the park, and to restore native habitat. Our long-term goal in the park is to create a space along the creeks and drainages in the park to plant native plants and trees later in the year.
Since early August we have organized two events in the park, yielding more than 150 volunteers who came out to cut honeysuckle shoulder to shoulder with friends, neighbors, and fellow community members. These volunteer events have helped us remove more than ten trailer loads of honeysuckle. This removal and clearing work has enabled park users to see beyond the honeysuckle in Again Street Park. The beautiful, mature trees that grow in the park are now visible and can be appreciated and enjoyed by neighbors, dog walkers, and visitors to the park.
We have many, many “thank you’s” to give for the work that has been completed so far! Thanks go out to the neighbors, Adopt a Trail Volunteers, Sierra Club members, Missouri Master Naturalists, and Returning Peace Corps Volunteers who have come out to help us this summer. We also need to thank the HUGE group of students who came out from MU on the second day of class, including members of Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho, and Tigers for a Cause.
We also need to thank our good friends at Arthur Ratliff Tree and Stump Removal for swooping in to help us by removing the mountains of cut honeysuckle that we left behind in piles after our event with MU…
Later this fall Missouri Conservation Corps will be back in the park to restore the park’s native habitat by planting Missouri native trees and shrubs from Forest ReLeaf. Our next event in the park will take place on Saturday, September 26th, and will involve a honeysuckle hack, a food drive, and pizza for our hard-working volunteers. You can sign up for this event by visiting our website, or by following the registration link on our website calendar, here: https://missouriconservationcorps.org/event/again-park-volunteer-event-and-food-drive/ Come and join us in September as we restore native habitat, clean up our park, and feed our community!
