September
Hello! We are Chelsea, Megan, Courtney, and Riley. We are living in Summit Park, and our community partner is the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks. Our goal this semester is to help rehabilitate the native species of the surrounding area through burning and research based planting. We will be removing invasive species through prescribed fires to help reestablish the savanna and woodland plants. Along with this, we are hoping to help educate the youth of Greene County about water purity and sustainability.
We have had some difficulties starting out the semester. Communication is a major issue. Because our community partner is such a small organization, we have had some challenges getting information across the board. However, we have been able to get in touch and start a plan. Our first event we are assisting in is Thursday, October 12th. It is a city-wide evening event where the Watershed has activities for children of the community to participate in. We will be helping to facilitate the event. There are also several field trips we will be helping to direct through October 23rd. The burning process will begin in November.
We are very excited to begin our volunteering with the Watershed and cannot wait to see our progress being made.
We have had some difficulties starting out the semester. Communication is a major issue. Because our community partner is such a small organization, we have had some challenges getting information across the board. However, we have been able to get in touch and start a plan. Our first event we are assisting in is Thursday, October 12th. It is a city-wide evening event where the Watershed has activities for children of the community to participate in. We will be helping to facilitate the event. There are also several field trips we will be helping to direct through October 23rd. The burning process will begin in November.
We are very excited to begin our volunteering with the Watershed and cannot wait to see our progress being made.
October
This month, we had the opportunity to participate in two of the Watershed's projects. The first event the four of us attended was the Springfield Partners in Education event Treasures of the City, which was a scavenger hunt for second graders and their families that allowed them to learn about various Springfield City departments. Although not technically a department of the city, Watershed plays an important role in our community, and we were informing the children and their families of the importance of water quality. The four of us got to interact directly with the kids and their families by working the Watershed's table. We asked the kids what they know about where their water comes from and encouraged them to visit the Watershed to learn more, as well as hand out goodies and their next scavenger hunt clue. Our supervisor Jeff taught us a useful metaphor to help the kids understand what the Watershed Committee does and why it's so important. We ask the kids "Have you seen the Lorax?" and if they'd seen it, we said "We stand for water how the Lorax stands for trees!" This helps them to recognize why water quality matters and to see the role Watershed plays in the community. We left this event feeling very satisfied with our contribution and excited to have begun developing our positive impact with the Watershed. The other event we volunteered at was the Springfield Medicine Take-Back. We again educated the public about safety and water quality by providing educational materials and informing the older generations who were previously unaware of how incorrect medicine disposal can negatively impact the entire city. This month was dedicated to public education and raising awareness of the importance of water quality. Now that we have established communication and a tentative plan for the semester, we are excited for what we can do for the Watershed Committee moving forward. Next month, we look forward to beginning our research phase of our project, and beginning the rehabilitation of Springfield's native plant species.
November
This month we focused on community outreach. To kick off November we visited Summit Preparatory School where we represented the Watershed in helping to educate middle schoolers on the volunteer opportunities the Watershed Committee has to offer. Since our last event went so well, we were trusted to handle event on our own. This event put the Watershed Committee's name out into the community to raise awareness about what the Watershed does. We met with our community advisor, Jeff, twice. With Jeff, we discussed our plans for the rest of the semester as well as our ideas for the future. Unfortunately, we discovered that the burning we had hoped to do will not be possible at this time due to weather related restrictions. Even though we will not be able to physically be there for the burning process, we are able to make the burning of invasive species possible by using our $300 budget to provide the necessary equipment. We are excited to start preparing an encyclopedia of all the native species around the area for the Watershed. The encyclopedia will be used to inform visitors what the Watershed area has to offer. They are very excited for us to put this into play. We cannot wait to see what the next semester brings.
FEBRUARY |
To kick off this semester, we have made plans for our project moving forward! We have met with our community partner Jeff and set goals for this semester. We also managed to use our budget to purchase materials for their planned burning project. This project has been a goal of the Watershed for many years and our contribution with this equipment will be incredibly beneficial in years to come. When we returned to school for the spring semester, we went out to the Watershed Center and took a tour of their trails, where we observed the natural spring that they have. We have gone out to the Watershed site and done trail restoration to remove invasive species from the nature trails. We have also begun to format and create our plant label signs, that will mark and describe the native species to Watershed visitors to raise awareness of Greene County's plant life. Megan and Riley also contributed to the Watershed's recycling efforts
MARCH
This month, we continued our work at the Watershed Center! Because we finally had some nicer weather, we were able to spend time outdoors doing work such as pulling and discarding invasive species from the area, walking the nature trails at the site and collecting trash, and spreading mulch (see Megan with her wheelbarrow) to protect the Watershed center's trees! Communication with our community partner, Jeff, has been helpful in setting our final goals for this project. Additionally, we met with our faculty advisor, Dr. Schur, to update him on our progress and discuss potential improvements to our project and the Summit program as a whole. We also have continued to work on our plant catalog database to leave a physical contribution at the Watershed site. Our plan moving forward is to continue enjoying the nice weather while enjoying the positve impact we are making!
APRIL
For our final month working with the Watershed, we focused on the education of the public about the plant species native to the Springfield area. We created a database including all kind of information about the native plants including things like watering needs, bloom time, medicinal uses, and more. The Watershed was extremely excited when we approached them with the idea of creating this. The document is too large to attach in this post, but feel free to reach out to the Watershed if you are interested in learning about the native species of Springfield.
We also made progress with the elimination of invasive plant species! Riley worked to flag the invasive plant, Crown Vetch. The plant takes all the nutrients from surrounding plants, causing them to die. Although it the bloom is beautiful, it is deadly.
After looking back at our time working with the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks, we realize we gained so many skills and connections. We have loved working with the Watershed and are so grateful for this experience.
We also made progress with the elimination of invasive plant species! Riley worked to flag the invasive plant, Crown Vetch. The plant takes all the nutrients from surrounding plants, causing them to die. Although it the bloom is beautiful, it is deadly.
After looking back at our time working with the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks, we realize we gained so many skills and connections. We have loved working with the Watershed and are so grateful for this experience.