Roanoke Park Spring Cleanup!
Saturday April 26, 9:00 – Noon

Come to Roanoke Park’s Spring Cleanup! We always have fun making the park look nicer!!

Meet at the community center then help with cleanup native gardens/slopes, or cut and treat bush honeysuckle on Madison. (You can also do a litter sweep but honestly the park is looking pretty good on the litter front.)

Free coffee station outside the community center thanks to Broadway Cafe and Roasting!

We'll direct you from there to particular areas people are focusing on. It’s a great way to celebrate Earth Day (week) and show your love to the park!

Bring gloves, a water bottle.

• Enjoy some coffee at the Westport Roanoke Community Center and check in before choosing a work destination.
• Please RSVP by clicking "Going" on the Event Facebook Page. Invite your friends so we can generate interest on the interwebs: https://www.facebook.com/events/1065210375428841/
• If you aren't on facebook, RSVP to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hope to see you there!

And after helping in Roanoke Park, head on over to the Spring Fling event at the Swope Park Bandstand, running 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Spring Fling hosted by KC Parks and KC Parks Ambassadors.

https://kcparks.org/event/kc-parks-spring-fling/

2024 PIAC Submission: Nature Playground, Basketball Court, Stone Restoration

Since it was founded the Roanoke Park Conservancy has worked with the parks department to seek PIAC funding for improvements throughout the park with great success. These requests have aligned with the 2011 Master Plan, and benefited from the strong support of nearby neighborhood associations.

The focus of the past few years has been improving the "south meadow," the lobe of the park southwest of the community center. These improvements include: renewing the tennis courts, new sidewalks, additional lighting, and entry pillars and signage. The Conservancy has been working with the parks department to provide design intent drawings for the many south meadow projects which have received funding. With that in hand, they will be able to put projects out to bid with more accuracy and fidelity to the intentions of the original PIAC requests. See our 2022 PIAC article for an explanation of the South Meadow elements. 

Our 2024 PIAC request included:

Volker Spring Nature Playground. Providing natural enhancements and outdoor play experiences on the west side of the park. Currently, the area lacks activities outside of a lone swing, nature trails, and winter sledding. We proposed the addition of a boardwalk leading from Karnes to a spring overlook, then to a naturally flat area where a nature playground could be constructed. Log scrambles, boulders, net climbers, and stumps could entertain kids while surrounding hammocks and seating could accommodate caretakers and everyone else wanting to enjoy the health benefits of nature. The "naturally flat area" is above the runout of the winter sledding. This area is accessible from the Volker neighborhood via the trail entrance off Wyoming or the Park Court staircase. 

Basketball Court. The well-used court southeast of the volleyball court is in need of a refresh. We requested a slightly larger footprint for a half court and a higher strength goal for longevity's sake. The current court is apparently asphalt and cracking at the edges. Sports court surfacing matching the tennis/pickleball courts was requested. 

Stone Wall / Pillar Restoration. Stone is an integral part of Roanoke Park's charm – both its natural stone bluffs and historic masonry walls and pillars. Historic photographs of these stone walls and pillars show the appreciation of these elements decades ago. However recent decades have seen an insuffient level of maintenance and a recent instance of vehicle damage. If left to further deteriorate they will only get more costly to repair or slowly disappear over time. 

Click the images below for pdfs of the 2024 request.

FROM invasive wintercreeper monoculture TO Diversity and Ecological Restoration.

WINTERCREEPER WEDNESDAYS
Twice a month, thru 2024

Twelve volunteer work sessions from early May through late October, 2024. 

Why? - Because wintercreeper snuffs out native plants (and trees).

Wintercreeper on the trees will continue to spread seeds of this aggressive invasive plant throughout our park and neighborhoods unless we get it under control by cutting and treating. Read more on this site about why wintercreeper is bad.

Our 2023-2024 Rebuild KC grant funded ecological restoration contractors did work on the park's "best 6 acres" a couple times. After a walk-through with KCMO Parks' environmental manager, they were tasked with using cut/treat methods on bush honeysuckle, spraying ground carpets of wintercreeper, and basal bark spraying buckthorn and tree of heaven. This was a dramatic frontal assault on the park's worst invaders. 

But they didn't get the wintercreeper growing up trees. That’s up to us volunteers.

See the "Best 6 ac -Volunteers" map for areas and notes with a focus on what us volunteers can do. Orange markers/areas were recently done. Red markers/areas are not yet done. The Wintercreeper Wednesday work sessions will focus on getting all the wintercreeper growing up trees within these areas as noted on the map. Burroughs Audubon recently posted about the inspiring rebirth of the Shirling Sanctuary in Swope park, using the same methods we're employing: contractors spraying the wintercreeper in September and volunteers cutting/treating it from the trees year 'round: facebook.com/AudubonKC/post... Another inspiring story is the KC Parks Ambassadors group that finished cutting ALL the honeysuckle from Gillham Park in 2023.

To find out about similar work efforts, message RoanokeParkKC on Facebook or on Instagram, or email Chris DeLong at nature(at)roanokeparkkc(dot)org.
Join the email from our home page and check [✔️] "Interested in Work Days" to get notice of these and other cleanups and habitat improvement events.

These events were added to the calendar of KC Parks Ambassadors. If you aren't a member, leaders Kelly Turner (Jander) and Sara Becker are inspirations and would love it if you joined them. 
Learn about it here: https://kcparks.org/volunteering/ 

Let’s form a community of Wintercreeper Warriors!

Session #1 Report (May 8)
Thanks to ADAM for helping Chris with the first event. We exposed a neat rock face topped by a rock wall dating to circa 1900 at the property line. Four volunteer hours logged.

Read more ...