Community Planting Day has been held in the Menomonee Valley since 2008. It’s inaugural planting day was organized by Menomonee Valley Partners to help plant and establish native plant communities within Menomonee Valley Community Park. Which at the time was a newly constructed 6-acre rain garden that was designed to retain stormwater from adjacent businesses and help reduce the volume of stormwater entering Menomonee River.

I stopped to talk to Carol, the Tuesday afternoon receptionist at Riverside Park, on my way in from teaching. Carol is so lovely; I’ve really enjoyed getting know her over the years via a mutual love of reading and traveling, and I always look forward to our Tuesday chats.

Today she offered to lend me a great book she’d just finished and I told her about the snake I’d found on a hike this afternoon. After I returned to my office, the phone started ringing.

We are so excited for fall in the Volunteer Department, not just because we get a lot of awesome fall volunteers, but because fall means it is almost time for the Volunteer Appreciation Party! We spend the fall reflecting on the past year as an organization, and we especially love to think about how truly amazing our Volunteers are.

As many of you know, the Urban Ecology Center was started by a group of volunteers and because of this, volunteers are integrated into every part of what we do. We have volunteers helping by leading programs, be with school groups or with research and community scientists.

Volunteers help on our land by picking up trash, planting native species, mulching trails, and removing invasive species. They also help us as receptionists, they help with mailings, and the fix things around our building.  This year over 3,600 individuals volunteered more than 22,000 hours of their time. That is INCREDIBLE! That’s approximately 916 days!

I have always been interested in the unique physiology and behavior of our local avian friends; however, my internship this summer with the UEC has further sparked my interest in their migratory patterns. As one of the Community Science and Research Interns, I had the unique opportunity to travel to Door County for the annual Bioblitz. This event consists of several passionate scientists from around the state meeting and conducting biological surveys for an area of interest- basically a bunch of nerds doing what they love. As a part of this, I had the chance to participate in bird banding.

As a volunteer, Camoya remembers, “The first thing they had us do was canoe…and I’ve never canoed before. I was really nervous and it was completely out of my comfort zone. But they were like ‘you can do it, you can do it!’”

“The staff were very encouraging. So we got in the canoe and we canoed the lagoon. It was one of the best days I’ve ever had here.” From Camoya’s first introduction to the Washington Park Urban Ecology Center as a youth volunteer in 2014 to her years in the High School Outdoor Leader program and then acceptance to college in the fall of 2018, we’ve loved being a part of this amazing young woman’s journey!

Over the past six years, 24 acres of land near our Menomonee Valley branch were transformed from brownfield to outdoor recreational greenspace along the southern bank of the Menomonee River. Today, people know this area as Three Bridges Park! Where a series of train tracks and piles of rubble once stood, native plant species now flourish and birds, mammals, frogs, toads, butterflies and dragonflies call this park home again. 

Here at the UEC, we have always loved working with volunteers. Actually, as many of you know, the Center was started by a group of neighbors volunteering their time to create something special. Volunteerism has always been a part of who we are and what we do, and it always will. This last year we had over 4,500 volunteers walk through our doors (or into our parks!), how amazing is that?!

Your support allows the Urban Ecology Center’s Land Stewardship team to improve habitat on over 70 acres of urban land, vastly expanding opportunities for outdoor science and recreation.

The UEC is restoring ecosystems which support more wildlife and create healthy outdoor classrooms where urban children, families, and residents can learn about their natural environment. Here’s how!

I’m not a professional scientist. But animal stories, biographies of scientists and works of natural history have always been my favorite reading material. Since childhood I’ve been nourished by the prose of ones who observe, measure and count; imagine and experiment. I still have natural history books I acquired as a child. One of them is Animal Behavior from the Life Nature Library series. It was published in 1965; presented as an introduction to what the editors of the time called the “infant science” of ethology. 

 “Think globally, act locally.” Although she didn’t come up with this slogan herself, Carol Brill tries to live her life by this guiding motto. By getting involved with local organizations in her community, Carol recognizes that her work and actions will make a far-reaching impact.

This principle is what steered her to becoming a volunteer at the Urban Ecology Center where she can now be found operating the Riverside Park reception desk every Friday afternoon.