Rounding out 2023

 WE'RE BACK BABY!!!

Whew those last weeks of the year always get a little out of hand. We only had one (albeit productive) workday in November and decided to take a hiatus in the hectic month of December. Below is a summary of that last workday. What a year though. We've become an official force in the Park and seek only to double down. We've ushered in a new era of Pendleton King Park in which native plants and wildlife will FLOURISH.

But before we recap November, the Ivy League is nursing a new powerful alliance with another partner in the area: the Georgia Native Plant Society and their newish local chapter: the Augusta River Region Chapter.

Link to main site: https://gnps.org/

Link to Augusta chapter site: https://gnps.org/augustas-river-region-chapter/

We're groups cut from the same cloth and after the same honorable goals. Of course we are excited to partner, and our first tangible collaboration will be taking part in a Statewide Weed Wrangle on MLK Day, Monday January 15th. It'll be just like a typical workday for us, but we'll be bolstered by the thought of others across the state fighting the same good fight contemporaneously. So set your calendars!

Anyway, back to when we last hung out together. It was November 18th. As I recall it was a nice mild day for an exotic plant butt-whipping. Seven Ivy Leaguers amassed, with two principally engaged in film and media capture for greater broadcasting of our undertakings. 

We opened a pretty new front, rampaging down the southwest sector of the Park, concentrating our efforts on knocking out some manageable Redtips, Chinese Hollys, and some especially egregious English Ivy infested trees.

Blasted Chinese Holly Berries

Immature English Ivy Flowers 🤢

We continued to kick butt and show that this park is no place for an exotic invader to thrive unchecked. It's easiest to see the fruits of our labor as you meander down Holes 1 and 2 of the disc golf course. This area will get a real overhaul when the Restoration Initiative gets some funds for the removal of the remaining large Photinias. The remains of our enemies piled up rapidly as we got our workout in. 

You wanna be like these bona-fide ecological warriors?? Come and join us!! We'll have a cookie and a handsaw with your name on it. 

In closing, Happy 2024! Let's keep this restoration train running into the New Year! We've built up some fantastic momentum, and I only see things accelerating from here. And also to reiterate... MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR A SPECIAL PKP WEED WRANGLE ON 1/15/24.

Long live PKP!!!