Volunteer Page
Hillside Woods Restoration Project
volunteers reblazed the trail system to match our new map
The Hillside Woods Restoration Project is guided by the Hillside Woods & Park Tree Inventory & Urban Forest Management Plan and aims to restore a healthy habitat in Hillside Woods. Volunteers are invited to to help remove invasive plants, shrubs and vines and replant with approved varieties.
Please do not remove or plant anything without consulting the project coordinators.
VOLUNTEER RESOURCE LINKS
- Sign up here to attend a session on our current projects on signup.com. You will get alerted to any last minute changes.
- Calendar of sessions and other events
- LOG HOURS FORM
- Download EpiCollect5 from the App Store or Google Play
- To contact us, email: hillsidewoods@hastingsgov.org
- Click here for the Hastings Vine Squad winter dates. The Vine Squad works on Hastings public trees at several sites around the Village November-March.
- We can create tailored internships for students and we offer community service hours. Contact us for more info
- Invasive Tree ID Project: Zoom recording from 6/30/20; slide deck for tree marking and survey; and tip sheets for volunteers and Step-by-step instructions on how to survey trees with EpiCollect5.
- Protect Our Woods' Facebook page and website
- Hillside Woods' new Trail Map
SAFETY REMINDERS
- Learn to recognize poison ivy
- Always check for ticks after every session.
- Do NOT venture into the woods if you hear thunder, see lightning, or when it's windy.
- Do NOT tug on vines; be aware of tree limbs above you.
- Never work alone.
We are very proud of our volunteers! Since the summer of 2020, we:
- Measured and collect data on over 1600 invasive trees
- Surveyed and collected data on over 850 Japanese barberry shrubs
- Conducted over 40 shrub removal sessions
- Planted over a hundred trees
- Installed a kiosk at the Chemka Pool entrance with Protect Our Woods
- Renovated the Hillside Woods trail map with Adam Hart and reblazed the trails to match
- Logged over eleven hundred hours of volunteer time
- Built a woods-dedicated website with detailed records of our work.
Also, we've never done this before. As we encounter rocks in the path, we'll work together to smooth the way. Please email us with any difficulty navigating the system we've devised, problems on the trail, questions about particular trees, or anything at all. No question too small!