2024 Earth Day Cleanup at Gertude Spaulding Park

5/6/2024

Just in time for Earth Day, Friends of Lake Quannapowitt was joined by 16 volunteers from Weston & Sampson to help clean up the Gertrude Spaulding Park lakeshore and remove invasive species.

Volunteers focused their efforts on removing ❌ Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), ❌ Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora), ❌ Crownvetch (Securigera varia), ❌ Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and ❌ Orange Common Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva).

Removing these invasive plants makes room for the beneficial native plants that grow in this area, including ✅ Joe Pye Weed, ✅ Goldenrod, ✅ Jewelweed, ✅ Rose Milkweed, ✅ Common Milkweed, ✅ Red Twig Dogwood, ✅ Spicebush, and many others.

These plants are better for the Lake’s ecosystem because they provide habitat and food (nectar, pollen, seeds) for beneficial pollinators, birds, and other wildlife, and their roots filter stormwater before it flows into the lake and stabilize the soil to prevent shoreline erosion.

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