This spring, Missouri Conservation Corps got an early start on our habitat restoration work in Columbia’s Garth Nature Area. Our first official workday in Garth was on Tuesday, March 18th, and we were joined by two ambitious groups of volunteers. A large group of youth from Columbia’s Job Point Youth Build came out to work with us, as well as a group of volunteers from Veterans United. Our volunteers began cutting honeysuckle near the informational kiosk and proceeded west around the big pond. In less than two hours, this amazing group of volunteers finished an area that would have taken twice as long with most other groups of volunteers.
Our second volunteer work day of the season took place on Saturday, March 22nd…once again in Garth Nature Area. This time we were joined by members of Hickman High School Biology Club, Missouri Master Naturalists, Scout Troop 4475, Delta Sigma Pi, Alpha Phi Omega, and students from MU. Thank you to everyone who came out to another very productive volunteer work day in Columbia’s Garth Nature Area!
If you would like to witness the progress of our work in Garth Nature Area, take the footpath west from the parking lot at 2799 North Garth. Walking west along this footpath, you will see the water fountain and the trail kiosk on your right, along with a much better view of the first lake in the park. Our goal is to remove all the invasive honeysuckle along the edge of the lake, opening up a much better view of the lake from the footpath. Despite this being a relatively early start to our season of volunteer events, we have discovered that March is a great time to identify, cut and treat invasive honeysuckle before the surrounding plants have leafed out. Missouri Conservation Corps will have several volunteer events in Garth Nature Area coming up in April, and we will be planning new events in Kiwanis Park as well. All of our events are available on our website’s calendar, as well as on the Volunteer Columbia website. Come out and join us as we use the energy and dedication of our enthusiastic volunteers to positively transform the 52 acres of Columbia’s Garth Nature Area.
