Kean University Students Volunteer In Union County’s Warinanco Park

From Kean University: A large group of student volunteers from the Kean University Center for Leadership and Service braved the cold last weekend to work on a stream habitat in Union County’s Warinanco Park.

“The stream has become an important feature of the Warinanco Park ecosystem, and thanks to these volunteers it will be healthier and more welcoming to diverse species in the coming years,” said Freeholder Chairman Bruce H. Bergen. “The volunteers went above and beyond to spend hours working in the cold on behalf of nature conservation, and their efforts are deeply appreciated.”

The volunteers spent the day raking leaves and picking up trash from the stream, to expose the soil of the banks in preparation for a hard-frost seeding of native grass and wildflowers. The seeding will take place later this winter.

The stream in the park was daylighted several years ago in a restoration project. Daylighting is a process that involves uncovering buried streams to bring them back to a more natural state.

Daylighted streams have many environmental benefits including flood mitigation and water quality improvement.

The work was conducted under Adopt-a-Park, a program of the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation. Kean University students are frequent participants in the program and have logged many volunteer hours at Warinanco Park, Echo Lake Park and other parts of the Union County park system.

Any individual or group is welcome to join the Union County Adopt-a-Park/Adopt-a-Trail program. For more information, call the Union County Department of Parks and Recreation at 908-789-3683 or visit online at ucnj.org.

Image Courtesy of Kean University