Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
The Fourth was definitely with us on the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail for the 2024 I Love My Park Day held on Saturday May 4th. Here are a few highlights.
135 volunteers showed up, the most ever! About 60% of the volunteers had participated in previous years but 40% were brand new. This was our 13th I Love My Park Day sponsored by Parks & Trails NY, Riverkeeper Sweep and hosted by the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct. 29 children, accompanied by 106 adults made an enormous difference on the trail. As in the previous year, the removal of invasive species was targeted to specific sections of the trail to encourage the emergence of native species and to make space for the restoration planting. We appreciated the continued support from our VIPs, local and state officials, Dana Levenberg, NY State Assemblywoman, Elizabeth Feldman, Ossining Town Supervisor and James Creighton, Deputy Supervisor, Town of Cortlandt, who arranged for the Town to be an official sponsor of ILMPD this year and helped promote it.
A team of four signed in the volunteers, helped them select their t-shirts, complete registration forms, fill in the free raffle tickets and put on their name tags and orient them to the day. Pictured are Sara Kelsey (on the left), long time member of the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct and Nina Sukumar. Not pictured are Jeri Froelich and Kathy Carlisle. All four have been serving as registrars for many years.
Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
The volunteers were led by a group of expert crew leaders, including Bob DelTorto, President of the Bronx River Reservation Parkway Conservancy, horticulturalist Pete Ström, Ryan Liam McClean Ecological Stewardship Program Manager of the NY-NJ Trail Conference, Linda Rohleder, President of Wild Woods Restoration Project, and Leigh Draper, long time mentor and ILMPD crew leader & Eva Giorgi, Preserve Coordinator, both from Teatown Lake Reservation.
Other crew leaders included Ryan McClean, former NY NJ Trail Conference Trail Steward, two enthusiastic leaders of the garlic mustard brigades of families and children: Jamie Friedman and Brenda Timm, Realtor, also one of our event sponsors. Adrianna Waitkins, our newest crew leader led the pachysandra management work. Pablo Mora led the volunteers restoring a stone wall along with a crew member from J & C Masonry and Landscaping, Inc, completing the work that was done in past years.
Tom Lewis from Trillium Invasive Species Management, Inc. and Brad Gurr, a professional arborist from SavATree, both of whom brought crew members and worked independently.
Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
Here are some of the amazing facts and figures detailing what was accomplished. The two groups of garlic mustardteers removed a total of 587 pounds of garlic mustard.
Jamie Friedman, one of the crew leaders provided the following comment about the work: “It was wonderful to see the kids and their parents' commitment to the work - they climbed the slopes, treading carefully back down with their arms filled with bunches of mature garlic mustard; working alongside their parents. It was beyond gratifying for the volunteers to see the fruits of their labor in the form of giant bags full of weeds and lovely, clear trailside slopes, and it was equally special for the adults to hear the children’s chatter about invasive plants, and what we can do to support native species, echoing along the trail.”
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
Photo credit: Jamie Friedman
Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
Photo credit: Jim Creighton
Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
In the very challenging briar patch, the volunteers led by Leigh and Eva, with assistance from Dana, removed 225 pounds of invasive plants.
Photo credit: Rick Lash
Photo credit Lynn Salmon
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
In addition to collaborating with the Briar Patch crew, Bob DelTorto removed hundreds of feet of vines from a stately walnut tree.
Photo credit: Rick Lash
A month after we saved the walnut tree, a Walnut sphynx moth, was found under the walnut tree: Amorpha juglandins.
Photo credit: Diane Alden
Adrianna Waitkins, wrote the following: “This was my first year as a crew Leader at ILMPD. My group was responsible for the removal of a large patch of pachysandra. In your garden, it is a welcome addition but, in the woods, it pushes out native plants and prevents them from growing. Working together we were able to accomplish the removal of most of the patch (61 pounds) ... Besides giving back to the trail, it was enjoyable to meet new people and spend the day together working on the improvement and maintenance of this iconic trail.”
Photo credit: Diane Alden
Brad Gurr from SavATree: along with his crew of two and their equipment, razed 300 linear feet of a bramble hedge comprised of several species of invasive bushes. He provided the following comments:
“Our crew was excited to arrive early to get our equipment into place and be ready to work our way out along the aqueduct... It was great fun to help out and to do our bit to keep the park looking better! We love our parks and love helping out!”
Photo credit: Tom Tarnowsky
Photo credit: Tom Tarnowsky
Photo credit: Tom Tarnowsky
The stone wall crew finished the work begun in previous years and with help the volunteers, restored the last 33 feet needing to be repaired.
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
The stone wall restoration in this section has now been completed, a project that the volunteers and our stone masons have been working on during I Love My Park Days since 2022.
Photo credit: Diane Alden
Ryan McClean, a former NY-NJ Trail Conference Trail Steward crew leader, returned to volunteer this year as an I Love My Park Day crew leader. His group reported removing 15 pounds of Garlic mustard and Narrowleaf bittercress and 222 individual plants of Burning bush and Barberry.
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Pete Strӧm, our resident horticulturist and arborist, returned for the second year as a crew leader. He wrote the following:
“Our group worked along a length of stonewall below the aqueduct. Native species blackhaw viburnums and spicebush are growing in the area along with sensitive fern and wild geranium. We worked to remove invasive shrubs to help prevent them from getting a foothold in the area… With each shrub removed we were rewarded with patches of bloodroot, cut-leaf toothwort and jewelweed seedlings growing happily. The side of the trail was piled high with brush waiting to be chipped. We finished our time pulling vines from the stonewall exposing the moss-covered stones. The volunteers working with me were great and motivated.”
Photo credit: Tom Tarnowsky
Linda Rohleder, our long-time mentor and crew leader, worked in the morning in the “Secret Grotto,” reported removing 176 pounds of invasive Bittercress and Garlic mustard as well as 374 individual plants.
Photo credit: Lynn Salmon
In the afternoon Linda worked with volunteers in the Turtlehead Patch, an area of flowering native plants that are now growing in a section where invasive plants were removed in past years. They removed 150 individual invasive plants.
Photo credit: Linda Rohleder
Tom Lewis and his crew managed 375 feet of invasive plants. He came with his dad and the youngest volunteer, his son!
Photo credit: Tom Tarnowsky
Ryan L. McClean, Terrestrial Invasive Species Project Manager and Ecological Stewardship Program Manager of the NY-NJ Trail Conference reported the following: “our volunteer group worked with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference’s Invasives Strike Force to remove a number of invasives. While burning bush and garlic mustard were the dominant species at their site, volunteers were also taught to identify and remove Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, oriental bittersweet, wineberry, Japanese honeysuckle, linden viburnum, and yellow archangel, a creeping nonnative ground cover, which was a surprising find! Removal of the small population will stop yellow archangel from spreading along the trail…. The site was vastly transformed after the removal of invasives and has now left ample space for natives to thrive”. This group reported removing 5436 individual invasive plants.
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
Summary: If our math is correct, 7084 individual plants and 1134 pounds of bagged invasives species, mainly garlic mustard and narrow leaved bittercress were removed, plus many feet of vines threatening the health of an old majestic walnut tree anchoring an entrance to a section of the trail.
At lunch time we had our traditional prize drawing sponsored by longtime supporters, Feed the Birds and Robbins Pharmacy; Croton Running Company also donated a prize.
Photo credit: Chris Mahoney
So, what happened to all those bags of invasive plants we removed? This year we made a major improvement and used paper lawn bags and arranged for the Town of Cortlandt’s Sanitation crew to remove them. They were very enthusiastic about our change and were happy to make a special trip to haul them away.
Photo credit: Diane Alden
Special thanks go to our long-time financial sponsors: Terraces, Hudson View Auto in Croton, Marguerite Pitts and Brenda Timm, Realtor. UPS Croton donated substantial printing services, flyers and lawn signs.
The contributions of the Black Cow Coffee Co. and Baked by Susan started the day with delicious morning treats and the provisions from Greens Natural Foods provided the lunch time nourishment that kept us going.
Giving credit where credit is due, we acknowledge the work of our photographers, Chris Mahoney, Tom Tarnowsky, Rick Lash and Lynn Salmon.
The special magic of the day was the camaraderie of the volunteers and crew who worked with such joy and enthusiasm while putting maximum effort into tending the trail.
