Last fall, a small group of volunteers from Iowa Master Naturalists spent time on the Greenway cutting woody brush to help keep these aggressive shrubs and saplings from taking over and crowding out the less-assertive native prairie plants that are planted in the cells along the trail.
Volunteers also joined in with the South District Neighborhood Association's Team Up to Clean Up event last April, picking up trash that blows into the area or flows in with heavy rainfall from surrounding neighborhoods.
There are so many ways to help your community, and often the only requirement is being willing to show up! The SDNA has a number of opportunities right here in the neighborhood, including helping with neighborhood leisure bike rides during warmer months. Similarly, you can volunteer with the Bike Library, headquartered just across Highway 6 from the South District. If you are an animal lover, the Iowa City Animal Center is just a short jaunt away. Backyard Abundance does amazing work with their Edible Forest at Wetherby Park, with opportunities to get involved both at that location and elsewhere. Tune in to local organizations and watch for events and other opportunities to help make our community a great place to live.
You don't have to take part in formal volunteer programs either. If you notice litter around your patch, why not grab a bag and pick it up? If a streetlight is out, a couch has appeared in a nearby ditch, or even the potholes get to be too much, you can easily submit a report at ICgovXpress.
If you'd like to be notified when volunteer opportunities at the Sycamore Greenway will be happening, you can sign up here. Brush cutting will resume with warmer weather, and trash pickup will be scheduled once or twice a year as needed.
