In this month's newsletter, we have:
- Get Involved
- Volunteer Survey
- Tree Planting Opportunity in Plymouth Park
- Indian River High School Scholarship
- Conservation Landscaping
- Year End Fundraiser
- Upcoming Events
- 3/12 - Saturday - Second Saturday Hike at Indian River Park
- 3/17 - Thursday - Monthly Meeting - Topic: History of the Indian River, from the Chesepian Indians to Suburbia and Beyond
- 3/19 - Saturday - Tree Planting at Plymouth Park
- 3/26 - Planting at Indian River Road/Oaklette Bridge
- Other News
- Great Backyard Bird Count Hike
- Adopt-a-Road Cleanup Results
- Invasive Plant Removal Workshop
Volunteer Survey
If you haven't done so already, please take our short 3 question Interest Survey. We'd like to hear what efforts you are most interested in. Take the survey at https://forms.gle/eV6tkPcGhDv9yYQn6
Tree Planting Opportunity in Plymouth Park
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| Tree Planting Target Area |
Indian River High School Scholarship
The Friends of Indian River is once again sponsoring an $500 education Scholarship for a current Indian River High School senior who will be a college freshman next year. The scholarship will recognize a senior who excels in leadership, citizenship, extracurricular activities and academics. Applications are due Wednesday, April 20, 2022. Learn more at http://www.friendsofindianriver.org/p/friends-of-indian-river-scholarship.html
Conservation Landscaping
Interested in improving the natural value of your property? Would you like to add beauty while helping the environment? The Elizabeth River Project is still offering matching funding for installing living shorelines (up to $4000), buffers (up to $1500), or maybe a Rain Garden (up to $2000). The Friends of Indian River has limited funds to kick in up to another $250 toward these projects in the Indian River section of Chesapeake. Learn more at http://www.friendsofindianriver.org/p/conservation-landscaping-program.html
We're making progress on our end-of-fiscal-year fundraiser. We're more than 85% of the way toward our goal of $1800 by March 31st. We just need another $258 to go over the top! Help us meet our goal! This is a great time to become a member, renew your membership, or just make a donation online at http://www.friendsofindianriver.org/p/membership.html
We always encourage you as an individual to pick up any stray litter that you come across along our roads, parking lots, and in our parks. Every piece of trash collected is one less that causes harm to wildlife in our natural areas and waterways. And just as important, reduce your use of single use packaging to not create litter in the first place. Take The Pledge to keep Virginia Litter Free at https://loversnotlitter.org/pledge/
Upcoming Events
Second Saturday Hike at Indian River Park
Location: Meet at the Indian River Park entrance at Rokeby Ave. and Main St. (2001 Rokeby Ave.) which is located just south of Military Highway, i.e. across Military Highway from the Fire Station.
Learn about the history of the park, the native trees and plants in this century old forest on the Indian River flood plain, and its value to maintaining the health of local butterfly, bird, and wildlife populations. Note: the forest trail has uneven surfaces and minor elevation changes.
To speed up registration and improve social distancing, please pre-register online at https://forms.gle/dTEvaxgpJNTfqbQH8
Monthly Meeting - Topic: History of the Indian River, from the Chesepian Indians to Suburbia and Beyond
Location: Oaklette United Methodist Church, 520 Oaklette Drive
We plan to meet in person for our Monthly Meeting in March. The speaker will be our own Rogard Ross who will do a presentation on the "History of the Indian River, from the Chesepian Indians to Suburbia and Beyond".
We'll have a short business meeting to review our budget for our 2022-2023 fiscal year. We'll also have the latest community news.
*New* Tree Planting at Plymouth Park
Date: Saturday, March 19, 9 am
Location: Plymouth Community Park, 605 Pond Lane
We need volunteers to help plant trees at Plymouth Park. We plan to plant 2 Persimmon and 3 Hazelnut trees at the park.
Please wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and bring work gloves. If you can, bring shovels and rakes. We'll have water and snacks available. We also always encourage folks to bring their own water in reusable bottles to minimize use of plastic bottles and cans. Participants under 18 years of age must have adult supervision.
To speed up registration and improve social distancing, please pre-register online at https://forms.gle/Pbut2pBRUzTfv2Vo6
Planting at Indian River Road/Oaklette Bridge
Date: Saturday, March 26, 9 am until complete
Location: Meet at Lilac Avenue and Indian River Road. Park along Lilac Avenue by the Norfolk Highlands Primary School. It is a No Parking zone along Oleander Avenue (parallel to Indian River Road).
We'll need volunteers to support planting of 14 trees, 30 shrubs, and 34 muhly and fountain grasses in the side median between Indian River Road and Oleander Avenue. The heavy lifting will be done by a contractor whole prepare the site and plant the trees. But we need volunteers to do the shrub and grasses planting and help with other tasks.
Please wear closed-toe shoes, a hat and bring work gloves. If you can, bring shovels and rakes. We'll have water and snacks available. We also always encourage folks to bring their own water in reusable bottles to minimize use of plastic bottles and cans.
Participants under 18 years of age must have adult supervision. Recommended for age 16 and older.
To speed up registration and improve social distancing, please pre-register online at
Other News
Had an excellent hike around the Lake between the Indian River Community Center and High School for the Great Backyard Bird Count in February. We saw at least 16 species and heard 2 more, including Canada Geese, Mallards, Hooded Merganser, a Pied-billed Grebe, Ring-billed Gulls, Bluebirds, Robins, Cardinals, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Great Blue Heron and more. See more pics at https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofIndianRiver/posts/5102008726531104
We had a beautiful day in mid-February for our Adopt-A-Road cleanup. We thank the six volunteers who came and collected about 20 bags of trash and other items - about 300 lbs in total along Indian River Road and around the bridge. It had been many months since our last cleanup and, unfortunately, there was a lot of need for our efforts that day. Our next cleanup will be on April 23rd.
A few volunteers came out for the invasive plant removal workshop at Indian River Park at the start of February. They made a significant dent rolling back the Ivy that had crossed the main north-south trail. Additional volunteer efforts will be done on after the Second Saturday events. If you are interested in getting involved, e-mail us at info@friendsofindianriver.org
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