March 29, 2024

Volunteers needed to help at Green Valley

Iowa’s state parks are looking for volunteers Saturday, Sept. 30, for Iowa’s first State Park Volunteer Day. Volunteer activities will take place in 32 state parks including Green Valley State Park in Creston.

“We all have important roles to play in caring for our state parks,” said Todd Coffelt, chief of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources State Parks Bureau. “They are everyone’s land, part of the public trust.”

He said volunteer opportunities are available to families, friends, coworkers, scout groups or clubs to spend the day outdoors helping their local state park by removing invasive plants, maintaining trails, picking up trash, painting picnic tables, restoring forests and seeding prairies.

Iowa’s State Park Volunteer Day is held in conjunction with National Public Lands Day, the nation’s largest one-day volunteer effort for public lands. More than 200,000 volunteers from across the country will participate in stewardship activities at more than 2,500 sites.

Locally, Green Valley State Park will be hosting the event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Volunteers will help replace bridge planks and widen the grass trail on the west side of the park. Volunteers can meet at the parking lot on the west side of Green Valley State Park on 130th St. off of Highway 25. Volunteers should bring gloves, closed toed shoes, bug spray, sun screen, water and a sack lunch. They may bring hand tools such as loppers and hand saws; however power tools and chainsaws will be prohibited.

“Stay for an hour or stay for the whole day,” said Daniel Stull, Green Valley Park technician. “There will be plenty to do for everyone that wants to lend a helping hand.”

“This will be a good opportunity for those that enjoy using our grass trails to come and improve the resource they enjoy, and for those that have only used the paved trail at Green Valley, the opportunity to see some new areas of the park,” said Alan Carr, Green Valley Park Ranger.

Any changes to the event will be posted on Green Valley State Park’s Iowa DNR website and on Friends of Green Valley State Park Facebook page. Contact Green Valley State Park at 641-782-5131 or via email at Green_Valley@dnr.iowa.gov, for more information or if interested in volunteering.

For more information and to view a list of parks looking for volunteers, go to www.iowadnr.gov/volunteerday. More information on National Public Lands Day can be found at www.neefusa.org/public-lands-day.