Volunteering Naturally - Winter/Spring 2015

Winter/Spring 2015

UPCOMING EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FEBRUARY 16 Fairytales & Frogs

CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO

MARCH 7-22 History of Maple Sugaring ROCKY RIVER RESERVATION

MARCH 15 Annual Return of the Buzzards & Buzzard Sunday!

HINCKLEY RESERVATION

MARCH 22 World Water Day

WEST CREEK RESERVATION

What’s the Plan?

Cleveland Metroparks Strategic Plan is the organization’s guide to capital improvements and system wide initiatives. It is comprised of five key goals which include: protection, relevancy, connections, come out & play and organizational sustainability.

Cleveland Metroparks Volunteer Services exists to support the organization’s mission, plan and goals! To that end, it is just as important that Volunteer Services has a strategic plan to guide its objectives to support that of the organization. In mid-2015, you will be asked to participate in a Volunteer Survey. The survey will not only inquire as to your satisfaction with Cleveland Metroparks, but also ask for your feedback on the proposed Volunteer Services future 5 year goals. Your input will ensure that Cleveland Metroparks Volunteer Services goals are relevant and attainable!

As we reflect on the more than 400 new individual volunteers who joined Cleveland Metroparks in 2014, it is an exciting time to consider the growth and impact of volunteers over the next few years!

In the coming months, look for the 2014 Volunteer Services Annual Report which will include a summary of all of last year’s volunteer activity and successes!

Thanks to each of you for the precious gift of your time! All your efforts and services to the Park District and the Zoo are greatly appreciated.

Best wishes to all for a happy and healthy 2015!

APRIL 25 Party for the Planet

CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO

MAY 10 Mother’s Day at the Zoo CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO

Heather Triplett Director of Volunteer Services

SAVE THE DATE! Friday, June 19

MAY 16 Children’s Fishing Derby MILL STREAM RUN RESERVATION (WALLACE LAKE)

MAY 17 Children’s Fishing Derby OHIO & ERIE CANAL RESERVATION

Please contact Millie at 440-253-2145 or Lisa at 440-253-2143 if you are interested in assisting at or attending any of these events.

Cleveland Metroparks Volunteer Services 2277 West Ridgewood Drive Parma, OH 44134

Volunteers checking in for the 2014 volunteer picnic are welcomed by staff!

The 2015 Cleveland Metroparks District-Wide Volunteer Picnic is scheduled for Friday, June 19 at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. All active Cleveland Metroparks volunteers who have donated a minimum of 15 cumulative hours will receive an invitation by mid-May to the picnic! Save the date and make sure you have enough hours donated to be invited to this fun event!

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GOLF SERVICES Trail Ambassadors are pairs of volunteers who are First Aid/CPR certified and hike or bike throughout the Park District year round.

Trail Ambassador volunteers are expected to donate a minimum of 40 on-trail hours each year. Optional winter monitoring is available after completion of the first regular season. Convenient online scheduling allows volunteers to choose their date, time and monitor location.

In 2015, Trail Ambassador volunteers, age 30 and older, are invited to participate in this fun and rewarding volunteer activity.

Applications accepted through February 13, 2015 with training and certification classes held in April.

Volunteer George Blanchfield assists guests as they arrive at Seneca Golf Course.

Cleveland Metroparks eight golf courses offer a variety of volunteer opportunities ranging from merchandising the pro shops with new golf apparel and hard goods, to working with junior golfers participating in league play, or even helping with concession and catering events! Volunteer rangers monitor the pace of play and ensure golfers enjoy their round at Cleveland Metroparks. If you enjoy the game of golf, consider volunteering at a Cleveland Metroparks golf course.

For an application or additional information about this opportunity, contact Cleveland Metroparks Volunteer Services at 440-253-2145 or volinfo@ clevelandmetroparks.com.

OUTDOOR RECREATION The Outdoor Recreation (OR) crew needs volunteers to help year-round with programming. The vast program offerings provide human-powered, natural resource based active outdoor recreation experiences through classes, programs, events, and trips. Assistance is needed with kayaking, mountain biking, backpacking, stand up paddleboarding, land navigation, GPS/ geocaching, powerboat water trail monitoring, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and other great activities. Volunteers are essential in helping OR provide safe, high-quality programs.

If you love working with people of all ages and abilities and have a basic knowledge of some of the above skills, contact Outdoor Recreation at or@clevelandmetroparks.com or 216-341-1704 to learn more. This is a great opportunity for you to help others learn while also improving your skills. To participate in a program yourself, visit www.clevelandmetroparks. com/or. Meet new friends and learn new skills while volunteering with Outdoor Recreation!

TRAIL AMBASSADORS Since 2005, Cleveland Metroparks and its visitors have benefited from the service of Trail Ambassador (formerly known as Trail Monitor) volunteers. These volunteers monitor Park District trails, including some of the new Lakefront properties, to interact with visitors, alert management crews to any hazardous situation and be first responders to emergencies on the trails.

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TRAILS DIVISION The Trails Division continued to develop in 2014 and will be closing out the year with over 80 volunteers. A portion of those volunteers have signed up to be Section Monitors.

Section monitor volunteers check soil conditions and manage trail opening/closing when clay mountain bike trails hit their saturation point. In addition, volunteers helped complete the Bedford Singletrack in the spring and have been instrumental in progress with phase II of the Bedford Singletrack set to open this spring. In 2015, we will continue to create more opportunities for volunteers, while continuing to engage our current construction and outreach initiatives. Hope to see you on the trail!

WATERSHED STEWARDSHIP CENTER Volunteer opportunities at the Watershed Stewardship Center (WSC) focus on scientific monitoring, restoration, and education.

Green Team volunteers help to restore this once highly-impacted reservation through garlic mustard and other invasive species pulls, and also by planting and maintaining the many attractive and functional native plant beds around the center. Citizen scientists are trained in their area of focus, such as frogs or birds, and in the protocols of monitoring their populations. Current citizen science projects at WSC are FeederWatch, FrogWatch,

NestWatch, butterfly monitoring and eBird point surveys. The education of our visitors concerning science and restoration can only happen with the help of our many Program Assistants, Animal Care Assistants, Photography Assistants and Welcome Desk Volunteers.

Each volunteer brings their individual strengths and WSC staff is excited to work with them to help fulfill the center’s mission of protecting and improving the health of our urban watersheds.

Metroparks Volunteer Services at 440-253-2145 or volinfo@ clevelandmetroparks.com for more information. The next zoospecific training will be held in April. The deadline to apply for 2015 is March 1.

REMEMBERING GREG We are sad to announce the passing in October of Greg Yost, 4-H Extension Educator with Youth Outdoors. Greg was a gifted educator and an enthusiastic advocate for youth. He joined Youth Outdoors in early 2000, representing The Ohio State University Extension 4-H. His belief in using outdoor adventures to help youth develop life skills remains the foundation of the Youth Outdoors program. Greg was a co-worker and friend to many. In celebration of Greg’s work, below is a reprint of a 2009 volunteer newsletter article highlighting Greg.

REPRINTED FROM 2009 ARTICLE Green Team volunteers, Megan Smith, Renelle Sherry and Elizabeth Hiser assisted with alien plant removal at the Watershed Stewardship Center

CLEVELAND METROPARKS ZOO Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is a year-round venue for families, groups and individuals, and Zoo volunteers have a major role in the guest’s experience. For example, volunteers are assigned to animal encounters in Get-Close Programs for Preschool Safaries, Family Discoveries and educational programs at the African Elephant Crossing Exhibit.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo offers two tiers of ongoing volunteer service: Service and Docent volunteers.

Service Volunteer Service volunteers, along with Guest Service staff, are integral to ensuring that Zoo guests are informed about the facility, programs and events. Whether dispensing maps, other hand-outs, general information or just a smile, Service volunteers enhance a guest’s Zoo experience.

Docent Volunteer Docent volunteers receive additional training and act as informal educators. Docent volunteers assist the education division by providing Get Close experiences on grounds, and educating visitors through interpretive posting at the Zoo’s major exhibits.

Only volunteers who have completed the zoo-specific volunteer training may participate as a service volunteer which paves the way to being considered for docent training. Anyone interested in becoming a zoo-specific volunteer should contact Cleveland

As part of the Youth Outdoors (YO) partnership, Greg is employed by The Ohio State University as a 4-H Extension Educator. His position helps Youth Outdoors fulfill its goals to help urban youth connect with nature while also gaining life skills like responsibility, teamwork and a service ethic.

In addition to supporting the Youth Outdoors volunteers and coordinating the program evaluations, Greg also works with the other YO staff in leading programs, taking care of certain administrative details, and helping guide the program’s future. In January (2010), Greg will celebrate his tenth year with Youth Outdoors.

Greg expresses his excitement working with volunteers as, “YO volunteers have such an incredible commitment to help our kids explore nature. Most of the youth have never had the chance to hike in the woods or cook over a fire. The volunteers don’t need the technical skills to climb mountains to really make an impact in the lives of the youth. Just talking with the kids while out on an outing helps them feel like somebody cares. The enthusiasm the volunteers share helps keep me renewed too.”

Greg really enjoys experiencing different cultures. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Western Samoa for over three years, where he was adopted into a family, and almost stayed there. But then, if he had, he says, “I wouldn’t have met my beautiful Hungarian wife.”

Greg and his wife have two great kids who, he says, “Help remind me that it’s the small discoveries that really matter.”

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PRSRTS TD U.S. POSTAGE PAID Cleveland, Ohio Permit No. 2911

4101 Fulton Parkway, Cleveland, OH 44144 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED DATED MATERIAL DO NOT DELAY

Milan Green VOLUNTEER SITE Trails Division

Volunteer Vista The Volunteer Vista section provides an opportunity to get to know fellow Cleveland Metroparks volunteers. On-site volunteer coordinators submit suggestions for which volunteer to highlight. From those suggestions, volunteer names are selected at random.

Cleveland Metroparks Volunteer Milan Green

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH CLEVELAND METROPARKS? In 2009, Milan retired from an eight year post-retirement career from Lineage Power Systems. Previously, he retired from his thirty year career with Lucent Technologies where he worked as a telephone central office equipment installer and later as an operations supervisor. Following his second retirement, Milan’s friends introduced him to biking on the all purpose trails in Cleveland Metroparks. In 2012, they decided to ride the newly opened Royalview Trail at which time Milan states, “I was hooked and I was out riding the trail regularly!” During one of his rides, Milan shares, “I saw trail work being done on Phase II of the trail and learned the volunteers were from the Cleveland Area Mountain Bike Association.

I checked their website for trail work days and decided to get involved.” During one of the trail work days, Milan met Cleveland Metroparks Trails Development Manager, Ralph Protano. In March 2013, Milan completed the Park District’s volunteer intake process and has since contributed over 200 hours to trail maintenance and section monitoring!

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FAVORITE ACTIVITY As one might have guessed, Milan’s favorite activity is trail building! He shares, “You meet so many nice people with the same goal in mind.

In addition, each year there are new seasonal employees with different backgrounds. They bring a new understanding about forestry and botany.”

MOST MEMORABLE VOLUNTEER MOMENTS For Milan, the one moment that is most memorable was Singletrack Trail Opening Day in Bedford Reservation. Milan recalls, “It was nice to see so many mountain bikers and their families out enjoying the trails that all the volunteers and Cleveland Metroparks trail crew worked so hard to build.” Another proud moment was when Milan was monitoring the Royalview Trail’s Red Trail. He shares, “I was taking a photo of a downed tree across the trail to send to the trail manager, when two mountain bikers rode up and climbed over the tree. One rider continued down the trail, but the other rider stopped and asked if I worked on the Bedford trail. I said yes and he put out his hand to shake and said thank you as he loves the new Bedford trail. That made all the days hiking and digging worth it!”

WHY DO YOU VOLUNTEER? Milan states, “I enjoy being out in the woods with people who get satisfaction out of building something that will give mountain bikers and

hikers a thrill for years to come.” Milan also assists as a Section Monitor, which is a volunteer who walks designated trails to inspect and take notes of current trail conditions to determine if the trails should be open or closed.

He supports the need to assess trail conditions to preserve the trails and also to be aware of problem areas and hazards on the trails.

COMMENTS FROM PROGRAM/SITE STAFF Trails Development Manager, Ralph Protano, states, “Milan is a model volunteer, who never seems to be absent from any of our building dates. He has also stepped up and done an incredible job taking initiative and has been a model member of our Section Monitor program.

He is a dedicated worker with a great attitude and I appreciate having him on my team. He has a great sense of humor, the crew loves having him around and he is viewed as part of the crew’s “extended family!”