We Love to Share

After hearing about our Neighborwoods community planting event in the Garfield Park neighborhood, Shea Abbgy reached out to see if we could help plant more trees in Garfield Park proper to enhance the disc golf course experience.

Shea, who runs Great Lakes Disc, had previously coordinated a group of disc golfers to help plant trees in the park in 2020 with the goal of increasing the tree canopy around and throughout the disc golf course. However, some of those trees from 2020 did not make it, and he really wanted to replace them and to recruit disc golfers to help plant the new trees. Shea truly values trees being incorporated into disc golf courses. His knowledge of course design and enthusiasm to plant trees that intentionally improve the course experience were invaluable.

In addition to Shea, Dr. Jordyn Stoll—an Environmental Science professor at GVSU, avid disc golfer, and Garfield Park neighbor—was also interested in a tree planting project in the park. Dr. Stoll offered to coordinate post-planting tree care to ensure the trees planted can be watered. Dr. Stoll also sees immense value in connecting her students with real world opportunities to learn environmental science and has already started organizing weekly watering shifts for next summer that will be completed before the weekly disc golf league events!

Collaboration Makes a Tree Planting Possible

After an initial meeting with Shea and Dr. Stoll, we invited them to join up with our newly-established Friends of Garfield Park, one of our five pilot Park Stewardship Program pilot sites. This was really cool since it is a great example of how specific park user groups can be involved in our Park Stewardship Program work to grow the impact! Katy Hoffman, who leads the Garfield Park Neighborhood Association has been an incredible help in establishing the Friends of Garfield Park committee, and was in full support of planting more trees with the disc golfers.

After initial planning and coordination with the City, we landed on a Halloween tree planting event that would include members of the Friends of Garfield Park, members of the disc golf community, and general volunteers who signed up to help.

17 Volunteers Come Together to Plant Trees

We started the day with cider, donuts, coffee, and homemade pumpkin cake. Some seasoned tree planters and conservation volunteers showed up to the event, as well as several volunteers who were planting for the first time. It was an excellent intersection of disc golfers and folks who were looking for a volunteer activity.

There were a variety of Halloween costumes on hand, adding to the overall whimsy of the event, and we were able to get all of the trees planted successfully. We’re so grateful to the disc golf community who really showed up to support the planting! They have asked for the event to become an annual event going forward. We were lucky to have amazing weather making it a wonderful event all around.

Community Makes Great Things Possible!

We are really excited to support more projects like this in more parks. Bringing multiple different groups of people together under a common cause in a park they all love is the height of success in our Park Programs. The true success of this project is not getting the trees in the ground, it is bringing people together to activate the park and, most importantly, creating a plan for ongoing stewardship to maintain the trees for years to come–which in this case, does not happen without Shea, Dr. Stoll, and the Garfield Park Neighborhood Association.

Want to see more trees planted in your favorite park? Contact our forestry team or give us a call at (616) 288-7209.

We’re excited to share a few new volunteer opportunities for people interested in working in Grand Rapids parks, on Grand Rapids trails, and in our community’s green spaces this fall! Let’s get volunteering, Grand Rapids!

Evening Conservation Volunteering Opportunities Now Available

Since adding Community Conservationist Anna to the team, we’re able to offer what you’ve been asking for—evening conservation volunteering shifts! Thursday evening conservation work is now on the calendar. These projects will take place in parks around the city, and often support groups working with our Park Stewardship Program.

Conservation volunteering opportunities include:

• Thursday evenings in October
• Every Friday morning
• One Saturday per month

Fall is a great time to do woody invasive removals, so this is our focus during the fall season. All hand tools and training will be provided.

Trail Maintenance Volunteering Shift to Weekend Mornings

As the days get shorter and colder, we’re shifting trail workdays to Saturday mornings to make the most of the fall days! Keep an eye on our website for updated trail maintenance workdays as the seasons continue to change.

Note, due to the specialized nature of trail maintenance work, we ask all trail volunteers to complete the Trails Steward classes prior to volunteering.

Tree Planting Volunteering is Back for the Fall Season

We’re excited to plant more trees with you this fall! We typically plant trees in the right-of-way between the sidewalk and the road.

Tree-planting workdays will be on:

• Saturday mornings
• Saturday afternoons

As always, our forestry team will go over how to plant a tree during every shift, so if you’ve never planted with us, we’ll teach you what you need to know, as well as providing all the tools you’ll need.

Thanks for Volunteering in Grand Rapids with Us!

To explore volunteering opportunities and sign up for shifts, please check out our volunteer page. Hope to see you out there!

How Friends of Grand Rapids Parks works in public parks and green spaces, and how we work with the Department of Parks and Recreation

Friends of Grand Rapids Parks (Friends) is fortunate enough to work closely with the City of Grand Rapids’ Parks & Recreation Department and their Forestry Division. The City permits tree plantings, conservation projects, and other work in Grand Rapids’ public green spaces. This collaboration allows us to connect community volunteers to projects and spaces they care about so we can steward them together. Everything we do is collaborative and involves years of multi-stage strategic planning.

Types of Forestry Projects We Do

Friends forestry volunteers and staff work alongside the City’s Forestry Division to grow and maintain our urban forest. We work almost exclusively on public property, including parks and tree lawns between sidewalks and roads (known as the right-of-way). Our team focuses on planting, watering, mulching and pruning young trees, supporting healthy growth and structural development.

When we prune trees, we require that a Friends Forestry staff member is present to guide the work and support if issues arise. These volunteers are specially trained and supervised to ensure pruning is done safely and correctly. The City does allow residents to prune branches less than 1” in diameter on their street trees for clearance without needing a permit, although we strongly encourage residents to take our pruning class to learn the best (and safest) methods for doing so.

Occasionally, some volunteers who have participated in extra training are asked to plant trees. These volunteers work closely with the staff at Friends to make sure trees are correctly and safely planted. All trees planted on public property in Grand Rapids require a planting permit from the City Forester, and the staff is aware of which planting locations have been approved.

Sometimes a young tree might need extra support like tree ties/staking or bracing. Our staff uses our professional judgement on what arboricultural techniques will be best for the tree and will either complete the work ourselves or with the help of our volunteers. Sometimes the City Forestry Division will ask for our assistance in removing old stakes and hardware from trees, and we work with our volunteers on which trees to remove them from.

Types of Conservation Projects We Do

Friends’ conservation volunteers improve the ecological health of public lands and waters within Grand Rapids. Primarily, we remove invasive plant species that displace native species. Occasionally, we plant native flowers, grasses, shrubs, and trees in highly degraded areas to jumpstart biodiversity, stabilize streambanks, and improve wildlife habitat. This is important because the limited natural areas are oasis for wildlife, especially migratory species like monarchs and birds during their hazardous journey.

The natural areas we manage are part of an overarching management plan that has been reviewed and approved by the City. Friends staff meets regularly with City staff to discuss and authorize any specific work performed on City-owned properties. Management areas, (sometimes referred to as zones) are selected by a process that considers:

• Current quality of the site (based on floristic assessments)
• Presence of rare or uncommon species (flora or fauna)
• Likelihood of sustainable success
• Continuity with other projects
• Community interest

In addition to public and private conservation workdays, Neighborhood Conservationists are essential to achieving our conservation goals. After completing courses on ecology, invasive species, working outdoors safely, and attending a workday, these volunteers choose a park to work in independently.

Within that park, Friends’ staff assigns them a zone in which they can work. Neighborhood Conservationists cannot work outside this zone without prior approval. Work is tracked in GIS to document change over time and demonstrate our collective effort to improve our city’s natural areas. Additionally, they sign an agreement to follow Friends’ policies and procedures because they are representing Friends in partnership with the City.

These trained and authorized volunteers have significantly increased the capacity to work by working outside scheduled workdays.

Projects We Don’t Do

Conservation

Friends’ conservation staff, volunteers, and Neighborhood Conservationists do not work outside the areas approved by Grand Rapids Parks & Recreation staff, including outside public natural areas, unless part of an authorized project (i.e. rain garden). Conservation volunteers also do not spray herbicide or use power tools, except cordless drills under supervision.

Forestry

Friends’ forestry staff and volunteers don’t work on mature trees that are likely to have extra safety considerations when pruning, or trees that have any trunks or branches within 15 feet of power lines. We also do not work on private property, although we teach classes that help residents learn to prune and care for the trees on their own property.

We do not plant single-species plantings and do not plant trees that are on the City’s banned species list or the State of Michigan’s banned species list.

Questions about our work? Please get in touch

We value our relationship with the City and strive to make sure that it remains a mutually-beneficial partnership through aligned priorities, goals, and communication!
If you want to learn more about how Friends and the City work together, have a question about a specific project or work zone, please reach out to us. If you have a forestry-related issue or concern, please call 311.