Organizing a Seedling Planting

Most northern deciduous tree seeds need to over winter outside in order to germinate in the spring.  Planning a native tree-planting event from seed is an ideal spring follow-up to the seed collection event held two or three years ago in the fall.  By planting seeds in the spring, your volunteers get to see their earlier efforts come literally to fruition!

Organizing a Stream Cleanup

When you think of spring, one of the first things that comes to mind is spring-cleaning.  Spring-cleaning extends beyond the house to your local watershed.  Spring is a good time for this event because litter that has built up over the winter needs to be removed before spring flooding washes it further downstream.  This event is good to do before the leaves come out, but it can also be done in the fall after the leaves are on the ground.

Creating a Seed Grow Out Station

Seed Growout Stations are locations where trees are nursed from seed to planting size.  These stations provide seedling and sapling stock for riparian buffer plantings or other watershed restoration projects.  Making a growout station in the spring helps you germinate the seeds that you gathered during your Growing Native seed collection event last fall.

Building Rain Barrels

What better way to celebrate the spring rains than by building a rain barrel to capture this bountiful resource and put it to good use?  Capturing rain water reduces runoff, but it also gives you water to use on your lawn or to wash your car all while reducing your water bill.  This activity can be done year round.

Creating Bat Boxes

Bats come out of their winter hibernation in search for food and during this time, they also begin the search for a new roost.  By building and placing bat boxes you are helping restore this species currently on decline and your are reducing your need for bug spray this summer – one bat can catch 12,000 mosquito-sized insects a night!  This project is appropriate year round.