The Fort Hale Park Greenspace Group met for the first time for the summer season on Thursday evening. The group stewarded the beds leading up to the Fort Hale outlook by weeding and spreading wood chips. The group also discussed their goals for the summer and a week-by-week schedule of the group's work. The group finished the evening by walking out onto the new fishing pier and looking over the bay.
08/02/2017
Today was our last workday of the summer at Fort Hale Park. As the rain came down on us, we went out with a bang and planted two water-loving trees in the park's wetland area. The dawn redwood tree had such a large rootball that the hole we needed to dig was easily twice as big as any we had dug so far this summer. The white willow was, thankfully, a smaller tree and required a normal sized hole. As we dug, we encountered lots of phragmites roots - and we hope that these new trees, as they mature, will take well to the wet soil and eventually shade out this invasive wetland plant.
07/26/2017
This week's workday was a big planting night at Fort Hale Park. The group arranged nearly 50 drought-tolerant, (mostly) native shrubs and perennials in the beds they had prepared at the entrance to the park's boardwalk. The group created a gravel strip to allow for easy access to a neighboring handicap parking spot and then covered the rest of the bare soil with a thick layer of pine mulch. It was a busy night at the park, due to the clear skies and the nice weather, and the group had many friendly visitors over the course of the work session.