Roanoke Park News

Sunday, May 06, 2012, 12:00 am Last Updated on Monday, May 07, 2012, 12:43 pm Written by Administrator

In case you missed it, Roanoke Park made The Kansas City Star in an article detailing all the great efforts being contributed to restore and reinvigorate an urban park jewel.

www.facebook.com/RoanokeParkKC

The third annual Walk in the Park on May 5th drew a couple dozen interested neighbors to enjoy coffee and pastries, discuss the park and take a stroll. We also put together a four page handout detailing park highlights (855kb pdf) that was given out at the community center.
The Roanoke Park Conservancy is now an official non-profit charity, so you can make a tax-deductible contribution to the Roanoke Park Conservancy to support future park improvements.
Check out and “Like” the new Roanoke Park Conservancy Facebook Page! www.facebook.com/RoanokeParkKC
Brett and his fellow trail builders continue to make good progress roughing in the next section of hiking / biking / nature trail just below Roanoke Drive.
Many patches of Garlic Mustard have been pulled, but there's still more to get. See Weeds! What to Pull, and help yank it before it drops its evil seeds. (The worst patch is across from the community center north parking lot.)

It's great to see the momentum continuing for a better Roanoke Park. See you in the Park!

Coming Events:

June 2, 1:30pm National Trails Day (Trail Work Day)
Meet at Westport-Roanoke Community Center

June 27, time TBA, UMKC Conservatory Jazz Concert

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Weeds! What to pull...

Monday, April 18, 2011, 3:16 pm Last Updated on Friday, April 22, 2011, 5:19 pm Written by Administrator

As we all know, Roanoke Park is being wrested from the grip of Bush Honeysuckle. And underneath that in many areas was found a lot of wintercreeper. Those two combined have been quite effective at eliminating native plants from certain areas of the park's hillsides. In some cases, no other plants are growing. In others, only other weeds have been able to compete with these super-weeds. Remnant patches of native plants remain of course, giving cause for hope. But with weeds advancing feet or inches away, how long they hold out may be up to you...

If you have time and are interested in helping make space for more favored plants in Roanoke Park, feel free to pull some of the worst offender weeds. Just be sure to positively identify what you're pulling. We need all the good green we can find. Tamp the soil back down after pulling anything. Watch out for poison ivy of course, and note that the soil of Roanoke Park is unfortunately heavily "amended" with broken glass. Wearing gloves is wise.

Garlic Mustard, Allaria petiolata. Photo taken in Roanoke Park April 12, 2011

Garlic Mustard

Garlic Mustard, Allaria petiolata, is an edible plant imported from Europe that is highly invasive and just becoming common in our area. It kills competing plants and can completely take over. Native butterflies are fooled into laying eggs on it but the larvae do not survive. Pull the whole plant, being sure to get the main part of the root. A trowel or dandelion puller is helpful to loosen the soil slightly before pulling. Garlic mustard can self pollinate and produce seed even after being pulled from the ground. Put in black plastic trash bags, leave to cook in the sun for a week or longer, then discard with trash. DO NOT COMPOST. It's more commonly seen on the lower half of slopes in Roanoke Park. For more detail on Garlic Mustard, see these two pdf info sheets from Wisconsin, a state where garlic mustard is further along than it is here: garlicmustard-wisc.pdf and garlicmustard-wildones.pdf.

Fund Created for "Roanoke Lookout"

Tuesday, November 01, 2011, 3:24 pm Last Updated on Wednesday, December 28, 2011, 11:55 am Written by Administrator

Roanoke Lookout

More good news for the Roanoke Park Project!

Fund established with initial $10,000 donations.

Around the time we were enjoying the Roanoke Park Picnic on October 23, word came of a significant private donation and matching contributions to establish a fund for a specific capital project benefitting Roanoke Park. The project is on a part of the park next to the Roanoke Neighborhood: the land adjacent Valentine Road, to the south of the Westport-Roanoke Community Center.

There are several people to thank for this. First the Roanoke Homes Association – especially Board Member Josh Sitzer whose guidance developed the idea for the RHA to take a lead position among the nearby neighborhoods. The RHA's generous $5,000 contribution to the park is the first really major cash commitment from an entire neighborhood, adding to the now over 2,000 man hours contributed from among all of the neighborhoods. And thanks to Matthew Hufft who provided a rendering of Pete Browne’s fine idea for an improvement that would be especially appealing to Roanoke’s residents. See below for a pdf of Hufft Projects concept for the installation of a landing at the top of stairs that will eventually provide another access into the park from the Roanoke neighborhood. And, Pete Browne was also the ringleader for obtaining the $5,000 matching donation, getting commitments from a few of his long time clients/friends that have been supportive of his civic work. They committed cash and Pete has committed his firm to help stretch the construction budget.

Click Read More for more information and a link to the design proposal.