Volunteer opportunities May 7 - May 14

Jared Tarr, Volunteer Coordinator

Greetings Friends,

Less than a week into May and already so much has been happening at Buford Park!

Open House:

We are in the home stretch of sprucing up the Friends campus for our Open House this Saturday, May 7th from 9am to 1pm. All of you are invited to join us for a day at the nursery fawning over the many native plants in bloom, sharing our love for Buford park and the work we all do at Friends with others, and reflecting on the year past to inform the year to come. Please bring a friend or a neighbor and help us make this event a true showing of all of the good work each of you has contributed to over the years.

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Wildflower Festival

Sunday May 15th is the annual WIldflower festival! We will be at the event all day doing outreach, signing up volunteers and members and selling native plants to attendees. 

To make this event run smoothly, we're asking for volunteers to assist with setup, takedown and to help staff our booth for short shifts during the course of the festival. 

If you're planning on attending anyway and would like to lend a hand or if you'd like to take part in representing the Friends at one of the largest public events at Buford park, please get in touch by emailing volunteer@bufordpark.org or giving me a call at (541) 606-7587.

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On Monday a stalwart group of volunteers, (along with four North Eugene High School students who came out to job shadow at Friends,) spent their day on the steep slopes of Springbox in some decent rain, waging war against scotch broom, which is well into its flowering season. Scotch broom seeds are known to remain viable in the soil for up to sixty years, just waiting for the conditions to be right to sprout. By removing blooms from these plants now and keeping them from producing seed, we can hope to shorten the period that they continue to be a considerable invader on the landscape.  

 

Another group braved the same weather on Monday to conduct a bird survey at Turtle Flats in conjunction with the City Nature Challenge. We have yet to look at the data gathered, but birds were singing in the Turtle Flats parking area.

If river levels cooperate (which doesn't look too likely with all of the precipitation we're slated to receive this week) the Friends part of this year's Spring for Your River basin-wide cleanup will be occurring over the next couple weeks! We have floats scheduled for May 10th, 14th, 17th and 20th along the Coast fork and Middle Fork Willamette rivers. We plan to remove trash and debris from portions of these basins that get little attention while also mapping invasive species growing along the river corridors. We'll be limiting the floats to 4 volunteers in personal watercraft per trip. If you're interested in dead-heading yellow-flag Iris and spending a day on the water, you can reply to volunteer@bufordpark.org. We are also looking for a volunteer with a drone and the ability to take videos/photos of our activity while on the river. If that's you, please email me at the address above! 

To learn more about the basin-wide effort, you can visit Willamette River Keeper's website by clicking here

Friends of Buford Park & Mount Pisgah invites you to join us for volunteer opportunities for the period of May 7th through May 14th. 

Monday, 9am-12pm

This Monday we will be joining our habitat restoration volunteers to continue priority scotch broom work in Springbox where this noxious weed is poised to set seed and continue our struggle with it for another 50+ years. For any interested volunteers, we'd also like to give the beds in the North Parking lot some attention. A lot of growth has occurred over this wet Spring and the native plants there could use some help. 

From Mieko:
Saturday, on the day of the Open House, we could use about 4 volunteers at 7:30 am to help set up canopies, chairs, signs, and miscellaneous other tasks. There will undoubtedly be random tasks we could use help with throughout the event like refreshing snacks (which you're welcome to contribute) or chatting with visitors, so anyone willing to do this is most welcome.

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Tools and materials will be provided for all of our work parties, but volunteers are encouraged to bring any supplies that make them more comfortable and confident.

( Chocolate Lily [Fritillaria biflora] on trail 17, April 2022) 

For new volunteers the nursery address is 34639 Frank Parrish Rd Eugene Or 97405. Directions are as follows:

After you cross the river into the park, turn left onto Frank Parrish Road. (Do not go right to the main parking lot and the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum). Drive past the North Trailhead parking area and through the yellow gate to the left (not the cattle gate near the trailhead). The gate will be open with a sign saying “Authorized Vehicles Only” (All volunteers are authorized to drive in). Continue about 1/4 mile to the nursery and park on the left side. You do not need a parking pass for the nursery.

 

Covid-19 update:

As of March 12th Oregon lifted its mask mandate. The Friends will be following state guidelines and no longer require the wearing of masks in indoor spaces. If as an individual you decide to continue wearing a mask, then the Friends will give its full support to that decision. I also encourage you to reach out with any concerns or requests for accommodations that ensure that volunteering with the Friends remains accessible for all.

 

Thank you for being a part of our conservation community!

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Jared Tarr
Intern and Volunteer Coordinator
Pronouns: He/Him/His  What's This?

 

volunteer@bufordpark.org

intern@bufordpark.org