CEES and Don Miller and Brenda Howard with Department of Public Works (DPW) – Land Stewardship have had a long standing partnership. In fact, Don informs, “they’ve never had a longer term partnership with anybody.” CEES Service Learning currently helps Don and Brenda mainly with the preventative maintenance of prior projects.
This includes replanting native plant species (trees, shrubs, plugs, etc.) and removing invasive species. In parks such as Holliday Park, native seeds can be collected from within the park and redistributed over other areas of the park for native replanting.
In these endeavors, CEES keeps records, brings material and supplies as well as educates on how projects relate to water quality. Don and Brenda provide supplies as well and inform on which species for which park work best for replanting along with where and how the invasive species should be removed for best results.
When the vegetation community is changed appropriately, other things can fall into line. Brenda states that “volunteers in these tasks are incredibly important for on-the-ground efforts,” such as removing the numerous and ever growing amounts of invasive species. Invasive species are incredibly prolific, and volunteers are key to helping combat their intensive nature within the Indy Park system. Maintaining removal of invasive species ensures against further degradation of park areas.
The service learning projects are helpful to the student volunteers because it helps to initiate both internal and external conversations about nature and helping to improve the environment. There are instances when some of the volunteers have never been exposed to planting before, and the service learning events are an amazing way to contribute to their initial formation of knowledge.
Don and Brenda are taking on more park area, so there is always room for expansion and more CEES service learning projects. Some of these future projects have potential to become more involved with wetland work particularly in the headwaters. Storm water focus is definitely on the agenda! Also, taking more biological inventories and animal surveys is a priority.
Don and Brenda are both great to work with and both have had close ties to the environment since their youth. Don’s grandfather was a major contributor to his early taste of nature appreciation. Brenda grew-up in a rural, farm setting which provided just the right type of surroundings for her love of nature to grow. Then, upon going to college, Don and Brenda both pursued paths dealing with environmental sciences and now they work for DPW – Land Stewardship.
Brenda enjoys service learning with CEES in their park areas because it is helping to “spread the word” about environmental issues and ways to promote solutions and better understanding. The message is incredibly important as Don concludes, “Parks are the last refuge for natural land.”