August 2026: TREES Crew

August 2026

By Kat Resanovich, Volunteer Coordinator & Educator

It’s impressive how much a couple of months can really transform a natural area. For the last 6 months, a new group of volunteers has been working every other week to restore habitats around Baltimore Woods. Although I don’t usually see the group in action, I have seen the impact of their work over the past half of the year. Areas on the preserve have transformed from being overwhelmed by invasive species like buckthorn, honeysuckle, and privet to new habitats forming with native grasses, trees, and flowers starting to move back in and reclaim their land. These changes aren’t random; it’s taken a lot of hard work from our stewardship staff and volunteers. For this month’s volunteer spotlight, we’re taking a look at the impact of our new volunteer group, TREES crew, and their first 6 months of work.

We had tried hosting weekend stewardship workdays for the past couple of years, but they weren’t super successful. Not many people were interested in coming, and the program wasn’t meeting the needs of our stewardship staff, so we decided to try a new approach. Our staff worked together to create a new volunteer program that met staff needs, was more interesting and enjoyable for volunteers, and made a bigger impact on our preserve; that’s how TREES crew was created. TREES stands for Targeted Restoration and Engagement in Environmental Stewardship. We really wanted to focus the new program on habitat restoration to deepen the impact of the workdays and have volunteers work on projects that they could see the impact of in real time and when they visit in the future. Every time TREES crew volunteers come back for a workday or a hike on the preserve, they can see the impact their work has had. Since starting TREES crew 6 months ago, over 67 people have signed up to receive email updates about the work TREES crew is doing, and over 40 volunteers have done hours and hours of work to protect and restore ecosystems around the Woods. Some of that work was done in snow and freezing temperatures, on rainy and muddy days, and on hot and humid days, but less-than-ideal weather couldn’t stop this group of volunteers. We’ve also been able to work with community partners to get more people involved in TREES crew. CNY Hiking and the St. James church have both brought groups to our workdays to help new people connect with nature and with other community members passionate about stewardship and giving back. When the CNY land trust held a large event to plant 3,500 trees at their new property, TREES crew joined in on the fun. We’re excited to continue these community partnerships to get more people out on the preserve.

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We’ve been hearing really great feedback from some of the people who have come to workdays that they have been looking for weekend opportunities to volunteer and love meeting other people who care about nature. TREES crew has been a really great mix of community members; we’ve had college students who have never been to Baltimore Woods before, grandparents who are usually here dropping their grandkids off at camp but wanted to try something new, and young professionals in the environmental field looking to gain some stewardship and restoration experience.  It’s been great to see this volunteer community grow in just a couple of months, and I can’t wait to see how much more they accomplish in the rest of this year and the program’s future years.

If you’re interested in learning more about TREES crew or signing up to be on the email list, visit our TREES crew webpage: https://baltimorewoods.org/treescrew/. We’ll be holding a 6-month celebration workday and party on September 12th, from 10:00-1:00. Join us to celebrate and learn about the group!