The following announcement was distributed to the Friends mailing list on April 17, 2004:

The first of this year's work days for the Dicken Woods Nature Area will be Saturday May 8, from 10am to 1pm. This is Mothers Day weekend, sorry, but it was the date that best fit all our schedule constraints.

The focus of this work day is to clean up both the windblown trash on the periphery and the heavier trash near the old farmhouse, and if we get enough volunteers we will also work on clearing trails and removing an invasive plant called Dame's Rocket. Please come and help in whatever capacity you wish. Naela Jenkins naelajenkins@comcast.net and Erik Stahlhanske Erik.Stalhandske@med.va.gov are coordinating the planning and cleanup activities, and Doug Wood DougWoodAA@aol.com and Mike Champion mc@xegesis.org are coordinating the trail-related activities. Contact one or more of us if you want more information or would like to be involved in the preparation for or coordination of this event.

We will be guided by employees of the Natural Area Preservation office to set priorities and get guidance on the best practices for this kind of thing that they have developed over the years. We hope to be organized enough to have plenty of work for as many people as could possibly show up, but to focus on the highest priority tasks if we have only get a dozen or two people (as we got last year on a rainy day).

The City will supply a truck to remove debris as well as tools and trashbags, so you only need to bring long clothes, closed-toe shoes, and work gloves. (There is a fair amount of broken glass, rusty metal, thorny growth, and poison ivy back there, you DEFINITELY do not want to wear shorts or sandals or work without gloves). If you do bring your own tools (branch loppers and pruning saws, perhaps), make sure they are marked with your name and phone number. Please to NOT bring power tools of any sort; the City does not want the liability!

We'll at least offer coffee and lemonade to the volunteers, and other goodies if we get donations. Anyone who knows how to get appropriate donations in kind from local businesses is invited to share their wisdom with Naela and Erik. Likewise, anyone who can help spread the word about this event to neighbors, parents of kids at the school, and to residents of the different condo associations would be much appreciated. (By the way, there is plenty that school age kids and especially teenagers can do to help, but please supply appropriate adult supervision for your kids).

Even people unable to perform the physical work are welcome to come see our new Nature Area in the springtime and check out the trails we have laid out and the natural features they go past. You can contribute by helping with refreshments, coordinating people and tasks, and passing on information about what to look for and what to avoid. This is not going to be obvious to most people -- there are some pretty flowers that are highly invasive (the Dame's Rocket), some nondescript plants that have beautiful flowers in season (trout lily), there is nasty stuff that is a critical part of the food chain (poison ivy), some invasive brush species that we hope to eventually remove (common buckthorn), and some that are native and valuable (various species of dogwood). Likewise there are critters we don't want to disturb (nesting birds and skunks come to mind). Anyone with skills in identifying these habitats and species is especially welcome to help out, or we will show you the ropes in advance. The regular Saturday 11am trail walks would be a good time to share our collective knowledge about this stuff (Doug and I claim no expertise, but we've learned a lot in the last few months from several of you and the NAP).

We anticipate two more work days this year -- one in early summer to lay down woodchips on the newly cleared trails, and one in the fall to clear buckthorn (this must be done late in the year so that herbicide selectively applied by trained people will be drawn down into the root system and kill the buckthorn but not nearby plants).

We look forward to seeing you on May 8th! We would really like to see a good turnout, both because there is plenty of work to do, and also because we want to show our appreciation to the City for creating this Nature Area (and send a message to the people who questioned our motives!).

Trails or Steering Committee folks, any important details I've missed?