Over 100 Volunteers Beautify Community Park by Eliminating Last Major Invasive Plant Species

On Oct. 8, volunteers will help remove the last major invasive plant at the Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Md. taking another step towards returning it to its natural state.

            The Alpha Phi Omega-National Service Fraternity at the University of Maryland is hosting the event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to remove the Japanese Honeysuckle from the park in order to help improve the health of the native plants.

            Alpha Phi Omega, who adopted the park as their project in 2010, has removed other invasive plants and hopes to continue pushing to bring the park back to its natural state.

            Barbara Rodriguez, of Alpha Phi Omega, says the turnout for the event should be substantial, bringing upwards of 115 volunteers from not only the fraternity but also other students at the university and members the surrounding community.

            "We've actually had to scale back, capping out members to 40,"said Rodriguez about the volume of volunteer interest.

            Local businesses such as Chipotle, Bagel Place and Jason's Deli will be sponsoring the event, providing the volunteers with meals and drinks while they clean up the park.

            Other invasive plants in the park were removed entirely with smaller groups of only 40 volunteers and multiple trips, Rodriguez said.  With a turnout of over 100, Rodriguez believes the volunteers can make a huge impact on the park with this one event.

            David Lai, the president of Alpha Phi Omega, says that he expects this event to be very positive for the park, especially with the large publicity the event has received and the large volunteer interest.

            Lai said the park is "very close" to its natural state and that Alpha Phi Omega has been working extensively with conservation biologists to get the park back to that point.

            However, Lai is looking for this event to have a broader impact besides the general environmental improvement of the park.  By teaching the local community how to spot these invasive plants, Lai hopes the event will inspire the local community to help maintain the park on their own.

            Lai said he wants the cleanup to not only to instantly improve the park with the removal of the plant, but to also create return service and for the volunteers to make new friends in the process.