Ann and Abdul from the Cedar 3 crew (Americorps NCCC) asked me to publish this goodbye from the crew….
For the past month, we (10 crew members) have been working with Whiterock Conservancy, SOAR and Diversity Farms, and helping out with a few projects in the Coon Rapids community. This four-week project was our first assignment as members of AmeriCorps NCCC and we have greatly enjoyed serving with the WRC. We spent the majority of our time out on the Long Creek Ridge clearing trees for oak savanna restoration.
We found it incredibly gratifying to see the immediate effect we were having on the landscape. Also, being able to see the work completed by the previous AmeriCorps team and the new growth on the land motivated us to push toward our target of clearing 25 acres. Unfortunately, the Iowa Blizzard of 2009 stopped us just short of reaching our goal.
We would like to thank Elizabeth Hill and Matt Reiling for being excellent supervisors and teaching us about Iowa’s ecology! We are inspired by the passion they have for preserving the area’s ecosystems. Many thanks to the WRC staff for going out of their way to ensure we were comfortable at the worksite and housing. We will never forget our experiences here with the WRC and we hope to someday return and see the lasting effects of our work.
