Volunteers gathered at five area greenways to complete various conservation projects
In celebration of Earth Day 2016, Great Rivers Greenway led a volunteer blitz along five greenways on Friday, April 22, in an effort to clean up, beautify and maintain our region’s greenways, rivers and creeks. Approximately 100 volunteers from the St. Louis region; including employees from Oasis, Southwest Airlines and AT&T, and students from Crossroads College Preparatory School; joined Great Rivers Greenway, Open Space Council, the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District and AmeriCorps to complete various conservation projects at five different locations in St. Louis City, St. Charles County and St. Louis County. The starting points and projects included:
- McKinley Bridge Bikeway in St. Louis City, at the intersection of Wharf and Branch Streets within the Mississippi Greenway. Great Rivers Greenway and Southwest Airlines volunteers installed native plants in five landscape beds and the butterfly garden.
- Ruth Porter Park, located in St. Louis City’s West End Neighborhood, which lies in the St. Vincent Greenway and runs from DeBaliviere Avenue and Delmar Blvd. north to Etzel and Blackstone Avenues. MSD led students from Crossroads College Preparatory School in painting storm water inlets near Maple Ave. as part of MSD’s watershed education efforts.
- Trailhead at Duckett Creek in St. Charles, which lies in the Busch Greenway and is located in Missouri Research Park, adjacent to the Duckett Creek wastewater facility on Research Park Drive. AmeriCorps and Great Rivers Greenway led volunteers from AT&T in the removal of invasive honeysuckle from along the greenway.
- Deer Creek Park in Webster Groves, which is located near the intersection of Summit and Marshall Ave. The Deer Creek Greenway runs through the park in Maplewood and Webster Groves, and volunteers, led by Open Space Council, removed invasive honeysuckle along the creek.
- Shaw Park Trailhead in Clayton, located near the intersection of I-170 and Forest Park Parkway at the southwest corner of Shaw Park. Great Rivers Greenway and Oasis volunteers worked to install native plants at this trailhead, which lies in the Centennial Greenway.
Great Rivers Greenway works with various partners and volunteers throughout the year to help sustain and maintain area greenways. In 2015 alone, 3,601 volunteers donated a total of 11,000 hours toward these efforts. For more information on the volunteer blitz or the organization’s conservation efforts, visit www.greatriversgreenway.org.
About Great Rivers Greenway
Great Rivers Greenway is St. Louis’ regional parks district, created by a vote of the people in 2000. Great Rivers Greenway connects the St. Louis region with greenways so people can explore their rivers, parks and communities, making it a vibrant place to live, work and play. For more information, visit www.greatriversgreenway.org.
For more information, contact:
Pamela Powell
The Hauser Group
314.436.9090
OR
Anne Milford
Great Rivers Greenway
314.932.4917