Invasive Species Removal at Kiwanis Park

(Photo: Pam Venable showing off some recently pulled up Japanese Honeysuckle, photographed by Katrina Thomas)

Much of February was spent staying out of the cold, but there were a few days that great for getting out. On February 7, we worked with TreeKeepers to do another Japanese Honeysuckle removal at Kiwanis Park. [We had done one previously in October 2008] The chipper was filled up in about 2 hours, but there was another chipper load or two that were left as "rabbit habitat" out in the park. There was so much honeysuckle left where it was cut that many people, including myself, would make their way to cut down a nearby plant only to find that the plant was already cut. The best part of the

event was at the end when I was walking through the park back towards the parking lot and seeing the area clear of honeysuckle, and the pile of honeysuckle that had been put in place in the parking lot.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Activity

In January, there was a lot of promotion for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to be a "day on, not a day off." In honor of this we decided to give a small presentation to the children at the Intersection here in Columbia. Melanie [Cheney] gave an excellent presentation about how we serve with the Missouri Stream Team Program as assistants, and about all of the good things that stream teams do for our waterways here in Missouri. The kids seemed to be really interested in possibly getting out there to pick up trash or even to get to go out on a boat ride on the Missouri River. Afterwords, we took the kids to a back room so that they could paint a rain barrel that we had brought [donated courtesy of MRCN]. The rain barrel will be used to catch rain water at the Intersection for they garden. All in all it was a great time with the kids learning a little about service and water quality.

Katrina, Pam, & Lea helping the kids paint a rain barrel

December 2008

In Decemeber we(Lea, Pam, and myself) started plans for a Day of Caring event in Rocheport, MO. We will be working with Maria Dorsey, a Vista volunteer working in Rocheport, to plan a tree planting along Moniteau Creek, two city parks, and along the Katy Trail. Our hope is to involve several junior high students from Columbia to come out that day and help improve the area. Other participants include city residents in Rocheport, and River Relief. The event will be held on Saturday, April 11th. We can always use extra help. If you would like to participate contact me at @ 573-256-2602.

Welcome

2008-2009 Missouri Stream Team AmeriCorps Assistants

(from left to right) Row 1: Steve Johnson, Katrina Thomas, Bev Longnecker, Mary Denney, and Melanie Cheney. Row 2: Johanna Morehouse, Barbra Maynard, Lea Langdon, and Pam Venable. Not Pictured: Stacy Arnold

Welcome to the new Missouri Stream Team Blog! Once a month our Stream Team AmeriCorps Assistants (shown above) will blog about an activity that they have done with a stream team. This blog will also be available for Stream Teams to read and blog about their own activities.

If you would like to be a contributor, i.e. post a blog, just send an email to missouririver@gmail.com and we will send you an invitation to become a contributor.