Girls and Boys Town volunteers pick seed at DeSoto NWR on National Public Lands Day. - Photo by Dave Murcia

Volunteers collect wildflower seed at DeSoto NWR on National Public Lands Day. - Photo by Dave Murcia

Girls and Boys Town volunteers and DeSoto NWR staff clear invasives on National Public Lands Day. - Photo by Dave Murcia

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge and the Friends of Boyer Chute and DeSoto NWRs hosted a successful volunteer stewardship workday in coordination with National Public Lands Day, September 30. 

One hundred seventy-four volunteers logged 466.25 hours for the day. As one of five national wildlife refuges registered in Region 3 for national event, DeSoto NWR offered volunteers the chance to harvest native forb (wildflower) and nut seed and clear invasive species while enjoying the beauty of their own national wildlife refuge.

A great effort was shown by the Girls and Boys Town campus of Boys Town, Nebraska, as 28 houses attended the workday. Girls and Boys Town committed as a cooperator in a Challenge Cost-Share grant with DeSoto NWR and have been instrumental in clearing invasive species throughout the 2006 season.

Thirty-three Girls and Boys Town volunteers contributed 96.5 hours to clear two acres of autumn olive for the day. A total of 440 pounds of seed were harvested including black walnut, gray-headed coneflower, lead plant, purple prairie clover, Canada milk vetch, Illinois bundleflower, and wild bergamot.