Volunteers Support Forest Park with a Little Spring Cleaning

There are so many people and so many ways that St. Louis communities help Forest Park Forever restore, maintain and sustain Forest Park, and one critical contribution comes from 1,300 volunteers.

Providing sweat equity while enjoying camaraderie, volunteers make their contributions in every season, most often through outside work such as the annual invasive species removal efforts.

On the weekend of Earth Day this year, groups from several organizations helped remove a different kind of invasive…the human-made one known as trash. On Friday, groups from organizations like Bank of America and Crowdstrike pitched in for a “Trash & Trails Day” to collect and dispose of trash that had accumulated in less-touched areas of the Park. Also that day, a group from Fontbonne University helped Forest Park Forever Land Management team with mulching areas near the World’s Fair Pavilion and Government Hill.

With one of the focus areas of the day being the fencing at the southern border of the Park adjacent to Interstate 64, the Missouri Department of Transportation also helped out by coordinating its cleanup of the shoulders of the highway. Over 55 volunteers on the Forest Park Forever side filled an estimated 150 trash bags.

On Saturday, a group of 26 employees and friends from the Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum and Centene also did a “Trash & Trails” tour, followed by a tour of the Anne O’C. Albrecht Nature Playscape.

All told, volunteers finished their day with the satisfaction of a job well done, some time spent together outside normal “work,” and the knowledge that they helped maintain one of America’s great urban public parks.

How to Volunteer with Forest Park Forever

Interested in helping Forest Park as a volunteer, whether as an individual or in a group effort? Visit the Forest Park Forever volunteer page for opportunities and to share your interest.