Last Updated on May 15, 2017
Both the Garlic Mustard Pull on May 19 and the Stream Clean-up of our portion of East Herbert Run on June 10 were great successes. Each event in its own way helped to environmentally clean up our community. The members of the Nature Trail Committee appreciated the help of the Patapsco Heritage Greenway volunteers, and we showed this by treating them to lunch at the Shortline Cafeteria on both occasions.
Our Butterfly, Rock, and Wildflower Gardens are each coming into their summer beauty. See the Wildflower Garden at the entrance to the Nature Trail on Erickson Way. See the Rock Garden near the covered bridge on the Nature Trail, and see the Wildflower Garden on Erickson Way opposite the Herbert’s Run building.
As part of America’s attempt to reinvigorate the population of Monarch butterflies, Charlestown has multiple “Monarch Waystations” on our campus, where milkweed is being purposefully grown, since this is the only plant on which Monarch caterpillars will feed. We hope that this will contribute in our little way to help replace some of the native milkweed which has been lost to agriculture and herbicides in many parts of the country. The Butterfly Garden and Wildflower Garden are just two of these waystations, where nectar-producing flowers are also made available for the adult butterflies to feed on.
Five American Elms have been planted on campus as part of the Charlestown tree restoration program. The elms are cultivars which have been bred to be resistant to the Dutch Elm Disease, which wiped out virtually all of these beautiful trees in our country back in the 1950s. These elms bring up to 66 the number of different tree species on campus. In a broader perspective, I am now proposing to Management the development of a Tree Working Group to better organize and manage the short and long-term planning and maintenance of both native and introduced trees on campus.
Bert Clegern
Co-Chairman, Nature Trail Committee