August 24th Eco-Friendly WISDOM Event

Here is a message from Judy Satterthwaite, WISDOM Program Chairperson:

On August 24th, we had a beautiful, sunny day at Addison Oaks County Park where 18 members of our WISDOM family and friends met to do our part for the environment. Each brought their own picnic lunch and many people graciously shared extra dishes, so we all had an opportunity to sample foods from other cultures. Our location, Lakeview Pavilion, was built to give visitors a wonderful view of the lake, but it had become so overgrown that the lake was hardly visible. Kathleen Dougherty, Natural Resources Educator for the Parks, explained how this happened. The plants, Autumn Olive, Oriental Bittersweet and Buckthorn, were normally planted as ornamental shrubs in private yards…but birds have eaten the berries and deposited the seeds in places where they have grown into massive tree-like bushes that choke out our native plants and trees. Our job was to cut these bushes as low to the ground as possible so that Kathleen and her assistant Kim, could follow and coat the cuts with a systemic herbicide that would kill the roots. Some people forged into the woods and begin cutting through the jungle of intertwined brush while others dragged the cut branches to a large pile. We had a great time…all worked in teams, taking turns cutting, dragging, and resting! All ages…from 9 to 72…worked well together and had fun doing it. When we left after 2 ½ hours of productive work, there was a beautiful view of the lake including a family of five swans swimming in a majestic line across the water. We playfully named them the “Salka Swans” because there were also five members in Gigi Salka's family hard at work. When we left at three o’clock, we had only opened a small clearing but all felt the satisfaction of a job well done!

What a wonderful interfaith coming together of WISDOM families and friends to make a difference in our environment. Please see all of our great photos of the event below!!