On a chilly November morning, twenty-eight volunteers joined Heritage Conservancy staff at our Croydon Woods Nature Preserve to remove trash from the woods, ball fields, and entire property. Throughout the day, they collected about 1,000 pounds of debris!

A crew also assisted with Property Stewardship work, mainly cutting invasive vines down off of young trees. Invasive vines have the ability to grow faster than trees as they do not have to grow wide nor sturdy. This allows them to quickly reach the top where they are able to shade out small trees and saplings, which eventually kills them.

The group focused on rare and important tree species like the American holly and various species of oak. Multiple tree species found at Croydon Woods are rare to Pennsylvania due to the small extent of intact coastal plain forests. A few examples are sweetgum, willow oak, and sweetbay magnolia.

Several volunteers thanked staff for hosting events such as this, but we believe that the volunteers deserve the true appreciation! Our organization is lucky to be a part of such a caring and passionate community that celebrates our mission with us.