Become a Weed Warrior!
Help the Environment—Earn Volunteer Service Hours
Have ‘Fun with a Purpose’ Outdoors
The Carroll County Forest Conservancy District Board would like to invite you to become a Carroll County Weed Warrior.
After the loss of habitat, the takeover by invasive exotic plants causes the next most harm to our native species. These invasive weeds crowd out native plants. Our native butterflies and animals also suffer when the native plants they depend upon are no longer around.
We are sponsoring a free Weed Warrior class at Bear Branch Nature Center near Westminster on Saturday, July 23, 2011, from 9 to 11 am. Participants will learn how to identify and remove invasive exotic plants. The training includes a one-hour online course to take at home prior to the 2-hour July 23 field training class.
Those who complete the course will receive a weed warrior identification card and will be placed on an email list to notify you of opportunities to assist in the removal of exotic invasive weeds at Bear Branch Nature Center/Hashawha Environmental Center, Piney Run Nature Center, the Audrey Carroll Audubon Bird Sanctuary, or Charlotte’s Quest Nature Center. Students can receive volunteer service hours both for the training and for helping at weed removal sessions.
For more information or to register for this free course, please email cpuck@comcast.net.
Those interested can participate in additional Weed Warrior activities at local parks and nature centers during future weed removal sessions. We will put you on our email list to advise you of future opportunities.
PEOPLE NEED TREES
Trees Are Valuable
Trees are important for their lumber, but their value goes much further. Living, healthy trees provide people with shade for our homes and parks, beauty to gladden our hearts, and inspiration from their sheer size and majesty. Children delight in the thrill of soaring high on a rope swing from the sturdy limb of a tree. Some trees even feed us with apples, cherries, peaches, walnuts, and an abundance of other fruits and nuts.
Forests Help People and Wildlife
Forests protect our precious soil from erosion, and even create new topsoil. They keep our water supplies clean, pure, and abundant, allowing streams and lakes to support healthy populations of fish, amphibians, and other wildlife. Birds, mammals, and other creatures find food, shelter, and nest sites in the forest. Forests produce oxygen for us to breathe and clean our air of harmful pollutants. Take a walk in the woods and enjoy the sights, smells, sounds, and activities of the many creatures who live there.
Forests Are More Than Trees
Often we really cannot see the forest for the trees, for there is much more to a forest than just its biggest members. Cardinals, chickadees, and Baltimore Orioles nest in the trees, deer browse on the understory shrubs and plants, and squirrels dash through the branches, chattering as if to scold us for intruding. Wildflowers carpet the ground, and nuts and leaves crunch underfoot. Turtles, frogs, and salamanders make their homes here. Underground, worms and beetles dig their tunnels alongside chipmunks and mice. Mushrooms, lichens, insects, and spiders each have their role to play. The trees are just the beginning.