Onondaga Earth Corps Crew Member Nesha waters a quaking aspen. Though it may be hotter than hot, one nice thing about working solo outdoors is the ability to get breaks in the day from mask wearing.
Nafisa Tabassum’s OEC Chronicles Begins
Last week was one of 90+ degree days. Trees are in desperate need of water and rain gardens are in need of love. This past week, I worked on the Green Infrastructure crew led by Taj Martin and Meqdad Ali. We hit several rain gardens in Syracuse, including the garden at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Comfort Tyler Park, and Percy Hughes Elementary School.
Generally, urban greenspace maintenance is collecting any trash from the site and removing unwanted plants that may compete with the species of plants that were deliberately planted. Rain gardens are a depressed area in the landscape that collects rain water and allows it to soak into the ground. Planted with grasses and flowering perennials, they are a beautiful way to reduce runoff!
All of the weed plants we remove are recorded as volume of cubic yards. This information is then inputted into a report that gets sent to Onondaga County and is used to monitor the health of rain gardens all across the City of Syracuse.
OEC Green Infrastructure Crew Leader Meqdad Ali at Percy Hughes Elementary School showing us the rain garden.