By Audrey Fusco
We celebrated summer by extending the hours of our nursery volunteer events to 10am – 4pm during the months of June, July, and August 2023. The longer summer volunteer events gave staff, interns, and volunteers more opportunities to connect with the land and with the cycle of the seasons. During spring and summer months the volunteers primarily work with potting up seedlings in the nursery, caring for nursery plants, washing pots, collecting seeds from the Lagunitas Creek watershed, and weeding invasive plants from the floodplain restoration sites.
Volunteer Karen Dabrusin Weeds Invasive Plants at the Tocaloma Site
In June, July, and August, SPAWN Nursery extended Friday nursery volunteer hours and offered lunch to the volunteer group. Volunteers enjoyed morning bird walks led by nursery volunteers Dean and Nancy Hanson during the months of February through June. Friday afternoon seed hikes were held in August and September.
Seed Collection at Samuel P. Taylor State Park with Interns and Volunteers
SPAWN held several birthday parties for staff members and long-time volunteers over the summer. We also held a mid-summer celebration for nursery volunteers on July 21st.
Volunteer Day at the Nursery and Birthday Celebration of Eve, Summer Habitat Restoration Intern
During Friday volunteer lunch gatherings the group held lively conversations about the Lagunitas Creek watershed and celebrated special events. We especially enjoyed having a new lunch table at the nursery which was made from reclaimed wood and donated by Julian Eusebio Anaya of Katarina Total Yardscape in July 2023.
Lunchtime at Newly Donated Table
Much work was accomplished with removing invasive plants from our Roy’s Riffles restoration project site. We want to thank Habitat Restoration Interns Nyna Hong, Robert Bostonia, and Cameron Noren, and also the Broom Service group of the San Geronimo Valley for their contribution to removing hemlock, thistles, French broom, and other invasive species from the Roy’s Riffles site over the summer. We hold two habitat restoration volunteer events each month on Saturdays from 10am – 2pm. Summer habitat restoration events focus on managing invasive species. During the winter the habitat restoration events focus on planting native plants at our floodplain restoration sites.
Volunteer Day at Roy’s Riffles
We rely on our volunteers to help with caring for the native plants at SPAWN Nursery and to help with maintaining our floodplain restoration sites. The volunteer community provides the foundation of support in our efforts to enhance native habitat for wildlife in the Lagunitas Creek watershed. Please view the volunteer calendar to learn about upcoming volunteer events with SPAWN: http://seaturtles.org/events. Write to Audrey, audrey@tirn.net to learn about volunteer events at the nursery or to Ayano, ahayes@tirn.net to learn more about habitat restoration volunteer events.
