VOLUNTEER WORK DAY : PLANT PRAIRIE PLUGS AND PULL GARLIC MUSTARD JUNE 8 1 PM – 4 PM
A volunteer work day has been scheduled to work on the Robert Grau Memorial Savanna at Motor Mill Park on Sunday June 8 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Volunteers are asked to meet at the Motor Mill Cooperage and wear long pants, long sleeved shirt and a good pair of sturdy shoes. You may want a hat, sun screen, water bottle and bug repellant as well. If you cannot stay the entire time, please come down for any part of the day you have available, your help will be appreciated.
Two projects are planned for the afternoon. The first project will be to plant 1000 prairie plug plants on the Robert Grau Savanna. On April 20, as part of an Earth Day Celebration, 20 volunteers planted 1000 prairie plugs on the site. This planting was part of a 2000 plant order and the remaining 1000 plugs will be planted June 8 to finish the project. The plants were provided by the Grau family of Elkader.
The second planned project is to pull, bag and remove garlic mustard from the site. Garlic mustard is a biennial herb that invades practically any habitat but seems to dominate woodland and low woodland areas. This very aggressive plant will out compete native species for sunlight and will literally shade out native plants in an area.
The Clayton County Conservation Board has taken an active role in the management of the Motor Mill landscape. Since the beginning of the Robert Grau Memorial Savanna in 2005, the Conservation Board has conducted several pre-scribed burns, prairie plantings and weed control efforts to recreate what is believed the landscape looked like when the Motor Mill was in operation. Your volunteer efforts on June 8th will help toward those efforts.
If you are planning to attend these volunteer efforts at Motor Mill, please call the Osborne Office at 245-1516 so we can plan ahead for the day.