According to Patti McDonald, volunteer coordinator for the Timberhill Restoration Coalition, a non-profit organization that has joined forces with MetroParks of Butler County to help care for the 57-acre site, the volunteers split up into groups to remove overgrown honeysuckle, take down tents and prepare them for winter storage, install trail markers, repair some stairs and get a butterfly garden ready to be burned in order to turn the area into a prairie.
Participants included groups from American Heritage Girls, local Cub Scout troops and the Butler County Master Gardeners, as well as individuals who have a history of association with the Timberhill area from its days as a Girl Scout camp. Then there were people who simply responded to a call for volunteers.
“I’ve been coming here since 1992, when I was a Girl Scout leader,” McDonald said. “After my girls graduated, I kept coming because I enjoy being on the property.”
Jon Granville, MetroParks of Butler County executive director, said the partnership between his government agency and the not-for-profit organization has kept the park in better shape than MetroParks could do on its own.
“There are always more tasks and improvements than you could find the dollars and time internally to make it happen,” he said. For the Make A Difference Day clean-up, MetroParks provided equipment and three workers to assist the volunteers.
“It’s been six or seven years since MetroParks took over this property, and it’s safe to say that it looks better now that it did, and better than it would have if the Coalition wasn’t working with us,” he said. “This is a good example of the multiplying effects of a couple of staff members working with a group of dedicated volunteers.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.
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