Volunteers moved mulch, planted trees, and cleaned up debris at Lake Park in Northwest Reno. It was all part of a Day of Service organized by the city and local nonprofits.
The organized work from Saturday's event not only benefits the neighborhood, but also the region.
"It not only is going to beautify the park, but it is also going to take measures to protect water quality," said Iris Jehle-Pippard, the executive director of One Truckee River.
Jehle-Pippard says their work prepares the garden's plants for winter.
"We trim them back so they go into their hibernation, and then we mulch them," she said.
It may not be clear right away why One Truckee River helped out, but the lake drains into the river seasonally. Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful was there too, and a few neighbors from a community organization stopped by to do good work for their park.
"Especially as I'm straddling retirement, I'm looking forward to doing more of these kinds of things, and I love the energy of community involvement," said Pamela Hassler.
Gretchen Bocks also said, "The only way it works is if we all work together. We couldn't have done it by ourselves without the city's help, without One Truckee River, and without Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful.”
Hassler and Bocks co-lead Friends of Lake Park, a neighborhood group that supports projects like this one. It got started in 2018, after the City of Reno considered filling in the lake that gives lake park its name.
Bocks says enough neighbors voted against it, and the city's system broke.
A handful of volunteers, including Reno Ward 5 Councilman Devon Reese, helped plant 13 new trees in the park. They're all different species, including two which have never been planted in the area.
"We're attempting to plant some different species that we think will be more resilient to a warming and drier climate, such as this Engelmann Oak," said Matt Basile, the City of Reno's urban forester.
A Compton Oak was the other tree new to the Truckee Meadows. A Dawn Redwood, Bald Cypress, and Black Tupelo were all planted near the lake, while the new oak trees and a Deodar Cedar found homes elsewhere in the park.
Volunteers also installed a new bench, that the owner of a local woodworking business made. The owner says there's something special about the walnut wood he used.
"This wood was sourced from a tree that came right down here in our local valley by our urban forestry team," said Dan Harrison, the owner of Timber Ridge Works.
If you want to get involved in events like this one, you can help plant trees along the river on November 8th, which is organized by One Truckee River.
Learn more at the One Truckee River website.
