Dunmore Community Turns Out Big

On Saturday, March 13^th, NeighborSpace started off its Spring clean-up season with a bang. Levickas Woods at Dunmore, played host to what was by far the organization's largest volunteering turnout, boasting fifty people individuals of all ages. This habitat restoration effort was the first event hosted at the 7.2-acre park in Catonsville, and, thanks to the enthusiasm of the community, it will not be our last. In fact, there is another event planned for 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, April 17^th.

Much of the credit for the success of the event goes to the Dunmore Community Association and Dunmore Community members, whose strong sense of community got them out and working together to improve the site. Thanks are also due to Office Administrator, Stacey Menegatti, who was steadfast in her efforts to promote this event across all channels.

All the key community members turned up on Saturday. Cliff Palmer (shown below left, with other community members), a long-time neighborhood stalwart, was out working hard, socializing with neighbors, and asking the right questions.

Beyond Cliff were community association leaders, including President Chris McNamara, VP Bill Henderson, and Treasurer Ryan James, all of whom were doing their parts on Saturday to restore their community green space. The mastermind on the community side of this, however, was Dunmore Community Association Officer Christie Bianco (shown below). Christie led the coordination effort on all fronts and showed up on Saturday with her entire family ready to go.

Native Plant Landscaper, Victor Bennett (shown below right with Program Manager Patrick Filbert and their respective girlfriends), also contributed significantly to the day's success. If you are not familiar with Victor, he is a friend of the organization and you should check out his website where he lists his massive supply of native plants. Victor volunteered his time to help Patrick lead the cleanup, showing up with a truckload of woodchips and all his tools. Victor broke down the value of native plants with a number of community members and engaged Cliff Palmer in an active discussion about forest management.

The turnout was great and allowed us to vastly exceed our initial work goals in the short- and long-term. To understand our goals, we must view the Dunmore site as three distinct areas: (1) Community-Managed Open Space (2) Forest Buffer (3) Urban Forest Patch

1. Community-Managed Open Space
   • This will generally remain as it is
   • The potential addition of rain gardens is shown below in red
2. Forest Buffer
   • This is an intensive habitat restoration area with lots of invasive growth
   • The area will be nurtured into a lovely woodland garden
3. Urban Forest Patch
   • This area will be improved and maintained as a healthy urban forest

Our first event involved three tasks: (1) Cutting English Ivy from trees (2) Removing invasive shrubs and groundcover (3) Smothering invasive groundcover with cardboard and woodchips. We did all of that and more!

Our next event will set the table for planting efforts in the Fall and will involve (1) Covering the entire Forest Buffer with cardboard and woodchips (2) Digging out invasive shrubs such as Amur Honeysuckle. Please join us at the corner of Kilmarnoch Dr. & Dunmore Ave. on Saturday, 4/17. If you won’t do it for the beautiful nature and the good company, then do it for the kids. See you at 10:00!