Despite The Rain, SVT's Earth Day Cleanups Considered Great Success

WESTBOROUGH, MA—The Sudbury Valley Trustees call its Earth Day 2017 cleanup efforts a great success, leading a Volunteer Week this year in the area.

"Despite the rainy weather that forced us to cancel or postpone some projects, we enjoyed several successful outings," said a recent release.

Here are the cleanups efforts, as detailed by SVTs:

On Saturday, April 22, SVT celebrated Earth Day with a great crew from Youth in Philanthropy from the MetroWest Foundation. Led by SVT MassLIFT-AmeriCorps members Lisa Long and Chelsea Polevy and by volunteer Bill Fadden, the crew cleaned up and rehabilitated trails at Baiting Brook Meadow Farm in Framingham. The volunteers also built a trail section to a historic Boy Scout camp on the property.

On April 23, SVT kicked off Volunteer Week in Northwest Framingham, where a team of volunteers sporting new SVT safety vests beautified roadsides by collecting litter along Edmands and Nixon Roads. Strong teamwork and good cheer made for light work.

In Westborough on April 27, 22 employees from Sanofi-Genzyme assisted SVT with trail restoration and landscape maintenance at the popular Walkup and Robinson Memorial Reservation.

In Berlin, our Stewardship staff worked with volunteers on April 29 to clear new trails across Ciesluk Forest in anticipation of the land's permanent protection. The trails connect to our Garfield Woods Reservation and will allow us to reopen trails on that property, which have been closed because their only access point crossed an active rail line.

On April 28, students from Acton-Boxborough High School helped SVT make an important adjustment to the Storybook Trail at Wolbach Farm. Working with MassLIFT-AmeriCorps members Chelsea Polevy and Emily Anderson and with volunteer Kevin Paquin, the students lowered the posts on the storybook stations to "child height," which will make it easier for young readers to read the stories for themselves.
And on May 1, during a project that was rescheduled because of rain, another band of volunteers fought invasive plant species by pulling glossy buckthorn at Memorial Forest in Sudbury.

Volunteer Week may be over, but you can still volunteer. SVT has opportunities available year-round both on our properties and in our office. Check the Volunteer page for more information.

Photo via Sudbury Valley Trustees