Your State Parks Day 2012 was a huge success for Friends. Chapter throughout the state, partners like REI, and DNR staff all collaborated in a fantastic effort to make a huge impact for our state parks and local communities. Friends welcomed about 2,000 volunteers throughout Georgia to transform hiking trails into a clean, safe habitat for wildlife, repaint park structures, build birdhouses, and countless other projects that showed visitors the impact our state parks and historic sites have on Georgia.
Families brought their young children, boy scouts came with their troops, and friends brought friends to not only make a huge impact on their communities, but to make the volunteer day a fun, memorable experience. Many groups and organizations gathers to show their support and participate as stewards of the land. Your State Parks Day was a day spent with loved ones as well as a time to meet new Friends and learn more about what our parks have to offer.
Each Friends chapter accomplished different projects based on the needs of their sites, but each project was a valuable endeavor. As a preservation park, Friends of Panola Mountain worked to restore their favorite site. They planted 300 native wildflowers in the restored grasslands and planted native, locally grown seed. Great efforts were made toward the restoration of this unique habitat and the efforts made by Friends continues to encourage guests to enjoy all the beauty this park has to offer.
Friends of Reed Bingham State Park welcomed volunteers to help remove debris from their Paddle-In Campsite, clear the miniature golf course, and clean their trails. Friends of Kolomoki Mounds State Historic Park worked on resurfacing as well as rebuilding a bridge. They also did trail maintenance and cleanup.
Friends of Etowah Mounds State Historic Site built and installed new birdhouses, painted benches and swings, restored their waddle and daub hut, and worked on their garden. Friends of Amicalola Falls State Park did site-wide cleanup, mulching in the day uses areas, trail maintenance, cleaned the Visitors Center, and worked on wildlife habitat restoration.
Friends of Red Top Mountain State Park created a wildlife garden behind the Park Office. Volunteers spent the day planting, pruning, and watering. Fences and landscaping was installed and wooden stairs were build for easy access from the garden to the main walking path. Shortly after the creation of the garden, the National Wildlife Foundation certified it as an official wildlife habitat.
Over 50 chapters through the state had volunteer projects at their respective sites and each site has their own success story to share. Make sure to visit your local state park and historic site and see for yourself how Friends is working to support these great treasures. If you want to join our efforts in making a difference, Click Here. Thank you to REI, GPB, VolunteerMatch, National Public Lands Day, Georgia State Parks and all of our partners who worked together to make this day such a success!
