Today we did a volunteer project at City Park. This park is HUGE – 1,300 acres (Central Park in NYC is 800 acres). Our volunteer coordinator, Jim, told us that it is one of the biggest urban parks in the nation. He talked about the different types of classifications – urban, private, national forest, etc.
Hurricane Katrina hit the park hard. Most of it was flooded, and the damage was extensive. It didn’t help that many of the park’s employees were forced to leave – they went from a staff of 200, to a staff of 17.
Our project today was putting in new plants and mulching an area of the gardens. The weather wasn’t too bad. It was hot, but the overcast and breeze was really nice. You can see how much we were loved:
Some of the group
City Park is home to the New Orleans Museum of Art. There is a sick sculpture garden, which we checked out during our lunch break.
After the project we went back to Tulane, showered up, and went for a walk. We went to Audubon Park and talked/relaxed for a bit.
Tomorrow we are heading back to City Park for another project. We will be removing invasive species of trees. Hopefully it will be another great day.
Drew
Sounds like it's off to a great start! They really do seem to love their volunteers. I love hearing about the trip and think the blog is a success.
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