Spring is here!

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.  ~Charles Dickens

Last week felt like an anomaly. It was the last week of winter and temperatures hovered in the 70's and 80's. The sun was out, but the trees were still bare and the grass brown. It was reassuring this week when the temperatures dropped into the 50's and 60's (chilly, right?) and some rain fell on the Twin Cities. The weather made for the fastest and earliest greening that I have ever seen in this area. We spotted our first green sprout last week, and by the end of this week we had seen blooming wildflowers, budding trees and green lawns.

It was a good week to be outside. It was the first week of Spring Youth Outdoors, so, for the next 12 weeks, we'll be splitting our time between YO days and field days. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are YO days. This means we will be doing environmental education and service projects with high school age youth from Saint Paul. On days that the youth don’t work we will have field days, doing environmental restoration and improvement projects in the Saint Paul Parks.

Identifying garlic mustard
(Alliaria petiolata)

Bloodroot
(Sanguinaria canadensis)

Wednesday, we worked at Crosby Park. We were managing garlic mustard which is an aggressive invasive species. We got a chance to do some plant identification while we were in the park, and spotted a few different types of wildflowers already in bloom, including bloodroot and Dutchman's breeches.

Thursday was our first youth service day, and after a quick name game and pep talk, we hauled brush along Hamline Avenue to get ready to replant the area with native trees. This area has recently had invasive species removed as well as a number of green ash trees. Funding from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Community Forest Bonding Grant will allow Parks and Recreation to plant more than 800 native trees on park property where green ash have been, or will be, removed as a part of the City's Emerald Ash Borer management program.

Friday started out overcast like the rest of the week but felt like summer by mid-afternoon. In the afternoon, we managed invasive species such as garlic mustard, motherwort, and burdock in the rain gardens and the Como Woodland Outdoor Classroom (CWOC). It was slow work but we covered well over an acre by the end of the day.

If you have any questions about any of the projects we're doing, please ask!

Post contributed by: Youth Outdoors, Crew 1, Minnesota Conservation Corps