Under the leadership and generous support of Betty Ann Kelly of Union County Parks, another great Adopt-A-Park effort occurred in Green Brook Park, which is located in Plainfield and North Plainfield, on Sunday September 16, 2018, when students from Kean University joined forces with members of the North Plainfield Shade Tree Advisory Board, Thalia Saloukas and Bart Thomas, to clean up a section of the park along Parkview Avenue in North Plainfield.
The group, along with members of the Union County Adopt-A-Trail Chainsaw Crew and Adopt-A-Park steward Cathy Cole, worked hard to improve a section of trail and remove litter, recyclables and invasive plants from the site. Chainsaw crew members cut trees that fell across the path to allow access once again. Volunteers removed 32 bags of garbage and debris, 5 bags of recyclables, a tricycle, stuffed animal, power washer and a variety of other items.
The NPSTAB AAP stewards have adopted this section of Green Brook Park for over 12 years and in doing so have successfully controlled several populations of Japanese knotweed, a very aggressive, invasive plant that displaces other native vegetation. Cathy Cole and her family have participated in many cleanups in the other sections of the park. The Adopt-A-Trail Chainsaw crew has removed many hundreds of fallen trees throughout the Union County Park System in the past year. Recent rain storms have kept this crew leader, Ned O’Connell, and members Bob Czaja, Larry Russo, Paul Hanson and Bryon Housel quite busy.
(above) Adopt-A-Park cleanup crew at Green Brook Park.
