2013 Report for West River Memorial Park

Year

2013

Number of volunteers

15

Total volunteer hours

30

Number of events

5

Number of trees planted

13

Enter more details about trees planted

1 oak, 3 linden, 2 honey locust, 4 crabapple, 3 eastern red cedar

Number of shrubs planted

41

Enter more details about shrubs planted

5 grey-stick dogwood, 4 clethra alnifolia 'ruby spice', 5 bayberry, 1 fragrant sumac, 2 witchhazel, 5 ilex glabra, 3 chokeberry, 5 sambuca, 3 ilex verticulatta, 1 winterberry, 3 amelanchier, 6 unknown

Number of perennials planted

0

Yards compost spread

0.00

Yards mulch spread

1.00

Summary

West River Memorial Park is the location of a new Greenspace project, which has additional grant funding from the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) with the goal of habitat and foraging improvement for both migratory and native birds. This project is a coordinated effort engaging the local community volunteers, Urban Resources Initiative, Common Ground High School, Yale Peabody Museum, USFWS, the Audubon Society, and the New Haven Department of Parks, Recreation & Trees. This project is unique because the site was selected as an important bird habitat area for additional grant funds. Thus the goals of the local community and the goals of the grant needed to be complementary. Given the additional objectives of the unique grant opportunity it was also the site of two special Yale University events: Yale Day of Service and President's Public Service Fellowship orientation where 10 trees were planted in total. Actual engagement with the community began much later in the season, resulting in four solid weeks of planting. A major contributor to the community group was a larger West River Visioning Committee that formed mid-summer with a target of developing a comprehensive West River watershed management plan. From their perspective, this site meets their goals of habitat restoration, invasive species removal, and education. All of these efforts this summer have generated the beginning stages of establishing successful bird habitat in an urban setting, and along a critical New Haven waterway.