Meadow Restoration

On Saturday I volunteered with a group that would be doing meadow restoration near Sunrise. There's an old drive-in campground a mile from the Sunrise parking lot that closed in the 70s. Several years ago the park started taking steps to restore the area back to grassy wildflower meadows. They took out the plumbing and culverts and graded the area so that it blended in with the surrounding slopes.

I met up with the group and a ranger went over the planting instructions. The park has very specific guidelines on how they want the seedlings planted. In addition to our group of approximately 30, there were a couple of Boy Scout troops and their parents working as well.

We hiked to the old campground and found 600 flats (30,000 seedlings) waiting for us. The flats and water had been flown in by helicopter a couple of days prior, which was nice. It would have been hard work to carry those in.

Over the next 6 hours, I planted 300 seedlings. I think I planted more than anyone else out there, because I overheard people saying they were on their second or third flat when I was on my fifth. The work wasn't easy but the people were great so it made the time go by fast. Besides the Boy Scouts, I was the youngest person there. Everyone else knew each other and had been doing projects like these for years. They were happy to see a new face and I hope I'll have a chance to work with them on another project.
I feel so good about volunteering. Not many people can say they have helped restore meadows in a national park. Not many people can say they've dug holes in a national park either, which is a big no-no :) It will be fun to hike back to that area in a couple of years and see how the plants are doing.

If anyone is interested in doing a future project, let me know. I'd love to bring some friends with me next time. (Yeah, fat chance on that, I know. But maybe someone will prove me wrong and come along!)