Progress Reports from the Field

We had our very first volunteer group this Friday. The team thoroughly enjoyed working with this group. We planted a small section called P-9. All of our planting areas are now called P- #. This represents planting areas 1-11. P-9 is in a high visible area, so we put some gorgeous agaves, yuccas, and other visually appealing plants here. We worked with 5 10th grade boys that are in the Grand Canyon Youth project and their teacher. They were earning service hours toward a chance to raft down the river. They also have to raise money for the trip and do some kind of presentation about the canyon. Their conversation was priceless. For the most part they planted small plants, but some of the boys wanted a challenge, so they planted some of the larger plants too. We saved the pointy cacti for an older volunteer group.

4/5/10 - 4/8/10
This week we started out working on caging the plants that were planted the week before so the animals wouldn’t prey on them and kill all our hard work. We also starting hand watering plants for the season because all the snow has melted and we are getting some dry and windy days here. The irrigation systems installed aren’t going to be turned on till we get the OK from the contractors who installed them. We started out watering the largest section planted by last fall’s crew called P-1, and fixed some smashed fencing from the heavy snows this past winter. Bruce (our SCA truck) had to be taken in for repairs on Wednesday because the wiring for attaching trailers wasn’t working correctly. It was a successful trip to Williams because he was able to fix it without ordering a new part. We have to say goodbye to Emily this week because she got a job offer in Seattle. We will miss your hard work, your attention to detail, and your laughs Emily. Bon voyage, come back to SCA if it doesn’t work out!

3/22/10 - 4/2/10
The entire crew arrived promptly on Sunday afternoon and settled into the labor cabins. The training week moved along quite nicely. Jill Kolodzne was here to help for the first three days and made the week more interesting so the crew didn’t have to listen to Molly talk all week. Thursday was Cynthia’s birthday and we celebrated with a piñata and chocolate cake at the end of the day. Good times were had. The second week that the team was here we joined forces with the SCA Spring Break group. On Monday and Tuesday, we learned proper tool usage and how to salvage plants at YACC camp and at Desert View. YACC camp will be converted into some much needed government housing in the near future, so we saved as many plants as was possible. On Thursday and Friday we got our first taste of working at our project site. The 29 Spring Breakers, 4 ACE interns, 1 SCA intern, several park service employees, and our crew planted around 1400 plants at GCVC in zone "P-5 and P-6". (This area is near lots 1& 2 south of Mather Point.)

We arrived in Seattle on the 22nd. Everyone has their WFA certification so we're off to the Girl Scout Camp tomorrow.

SUSTAINABLE PITTSBURGH
Sustainable Business Fellow

PORTFOLIO MANAGER TRAINING EVENT
o Communicated with EPA and Cadmus
o Met with Point Park University and scheduled room and lab use
o Wrote event description
 Posted on Website
 Emailed to BCC
 3E Links Email
 Press Release
• Wrote an article for TABLE Magazine titled “Water’s Role in
Sustainability.” It should appear in the summer issue.
• Scheduled subcommittee meetings for BCC
• Tabled for Great Outdoors week at FedEx Ground on Earth Day
• Researched Green Business Challenges in various cities
• Fielded calls, requests, and questions in Matt’s absence.

UPCOMING HAPPENINGS
• BCC Subcommittee Meetings, May 11th
• BCC Meeting, May 18th
• Portfolio Manager Training, May 20th
• BCC Webinar with East coast cities looking to model off of our
program, May 25th
• Working towards a Green Office/Green Business Challenge
• Beginning to contact Hazelwood Churches sometime next week to
discuss community day sevice project opportunities.

VOLUNTEERING
• Hazelwood Food Forest
o Workshop on April 17th
o 2 weekday work days
• Panther Hallow Extravaganza
o Crew leader with Josh from the SCA, collected 49 bags of
invasive garlic mustard