Volunteers work to spread mulch and remove invasive species at CPF’s Willow Patch public trail.

Roll up your sleeves and join CPF staff and fellow volunteers — including members of Cazenovia High School’s Project Café — for a National Trails Day community work project!

We’ll be focusing our efforts in CPF’s Willow Patch right in the Village of Cazenovia.

Project plans include:

• Installing protective wire fencing around groups of willow trees to help protect them from beaver damage

• Digging up and removing invasive Japanese knotweed

• Spreading mulch

Tools to bring (if you have them):

• shovels

• wheelbarrows

• trowels

• garden trugs

• rakes

Be sure to wear sturdy shoes, clothes you don’t mind getting dirty, and work gloves, and bring a water bottle.

Planning to volunteer? Please RSVP to our Land Stewardship Manager, Peg Engasser at pengasser@cazpreservation.org and include how many will be in your group and what tools you plan to bring.

We’ll meet at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church parking lot (10 Mill Street) to collect tools and then walk together to the Willow Patch.

Come lend a hand, meet fellow volunteers, and help care for this special community green space!

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About Japanese Knotweed

A thicket of Japanese knotweed. Citation: Tom Heutte, USDA Forest Service, www.invasives.org

Japanese knotweed is an invasive plant species that spreads rapidly, forming dense thickets that crowd and shade out native vegetation. This reduces species diversity, alters natural ecosystems, and negatively impacts wildlife habitat. The ground under knotweed thickets tends to have very little other growth. This bare soil is very susceptible to erosion, posing a particular threat to riparian areas. Once established, populations of Japanese knotweed are extremely persistent and hard to eradicate. (Source: New York Invasive Species Information | https://nyis.info/species/japanese-knotweed/)