Celebrating our volunteers at Clear Creek

KATIE BENNETT
Clear Creek Naturalist

Clear Creek recently held its annual volunteer appreciation event. Volunteers had the opportunity to take in fall colors while canoeing Lake Emily and enjoying a meal together afterwards. As the naturalist at Clear Creek, I enjoy planning an annual event to recognize park volunteers and their continued efforts. Clear Creek volunteers help with public programs, a variety of resource management surveys and trail roving. Their dedicated efforts truly make Clear Creek a better place.

Two volunteers were recognized at the event for their significant contributions as Metro Parks volunteers. Susan Moore, who originally started as a volunteer at Blacklick Woods Metro Park, was honored for 30 years of service. Susan is a familiar face on the trails and at public programs, and helps on a regular basis with resource management surveys. If you’ve had the opportunity to interact with Susan while out on a trail, there is a good chance you’ve learned something from her. She’s a wealth of knowledge!

Barbara Merritt, also a long-time Metro Parks volunteer, was honored for leading Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) monitoring for the past 10 years. HWA volunteers survey stands of hemlocks from November to March for signs of HWA. Most of the surveys require off-trail hiking and are conducted in backcountry areas of the park. Barbara has diligently coordinated the monitoring efforts each season and successfully navigated the group through difficult terrain on countless occasions. Ultimately, her leadership of our HWA volunteers played a crucial role in detecting HWA at Clear Creek for the first time in 2022.

Efforts towards a new volunteer initiative were also celebrated at the event. In January, I pitched an “Adopt a Trail” idea to volunteers. Several were eager to participate and quickly signed up to monitor the various trails at Clear Creek; they helped with pruning, kept park staff updated on fallen trees, picked up litter and had numerous positive interactions with park visitors.

Like many other Metro Parks, Clear Creek is fortunate to have a dedicated group of volunteers. When I take time to reflect on volunteer efforts at the end of each year, the collective number of hours worked and all that has been accomplished is a humbling reminder of the important role of Metro Parks’ volunteers.