The Old Field Clearing project (see November '05 story) got a huge boost when a gang of volunteers from the K College Advancement Department descended on the Arboretum last Friday. When they arrived the field was littered with the corpses of cherries, aspens and autumn olives which had been cut last fall. By the time the crew from third floor Mandelle packed up for the day the mess was gone, along with most of the other woody intruders unlucky enough to fall within the reach of chain saw, weed wrench and loppers.
Kristy Janet, Manager of Donor Relations, was the inspiration behind the work day. The turn-out was truly impressive with more than 20 volunteers from Development, Alumni Relations and Communication donning boots and work gloves and braving threatening weather, needle-sharp brambles, falling trees and wild animals (not really!) to help support the Arboretum.
As mentioned in the November story, this is just the first step in the Old Field clearing. There's plenty more to do and with any luck the Advancement team will be back again next year for round two.