Growth of Cary Tree Archive - Rooted in the Work of More than 450 Volunteers
Earlier this year, we visited the Cary Tree Archive (located along Cary Parkway), during one of the volunteer work days.
On property owned by a homeowner’s association, the CTA (Cary Tree Archive) seeks to transform an open landscape - literal grass roots, if you will- into a thriving ecosystem of native trees, shrubs, grasses and perennial flowers, that support local pollinators and countless populations of life, from the birds and the bees, to the caterpillars on the leaves.
Certainly, any description I can give you about this project, pales in comparison to the information provided on the CTA website.
However, when writing this story I reached out to a CTA administrator, Dr. Richard Carroll, for comment. He tells me George McDowell was definitely the inspiration and catalyst for the archive, and won over the support of Dave Berger, Parkway HOA President (along with the HOA Board, vet all decisions and major initiatives of the CTA).
“When Dave Berger asked George to plant a few trees, George said ‘how about a few hundred!”
In addition to various neighborhood and civic group volunteers, Carroll points to a group of technical volunteers contributing to the success of the CTA, with their time and knowledge.
Dave Klemp - Trees for the Triangle - a certified arborist, Klemp oversees tree planting and works to secure grants that purchase trees and other materials for the CTA.
Taylor Short - P &T’s Native Plant Nursery - provided research and strategic planning for development of the recently seeded Piedmont Meadows.
Basil Camu - Leaf and Limb - Key advisor and sponsor of the Big Month birding event. Now, in its second year, CTA leaders believe the event is just the beginning of a long term ecological monitoring program to observe trends in bird populations and diversity as an indicator of ecological health.
For his part, Carroll humbly and with a sense of humor, describes his role as a laborer. When pressed for more, he acknowledges having a leadership role along with George McDowell, helping interpret the collective’s ideas, and implementing the process you see coming out of the ground.
The Pāpur (pronounced like ‘the paper’), is a publication for the people in and around, Cary, NC.
We seek to bring you local stories, about local people who form the backbone of our community. We admire all the small businesses and community members out there, waking up every day, seeking to make this is a better place through commerce and civic involvement.
story continues…
Pollinator garden inspired by Debbie Roos.
This plot was planted with the help of 27 volunteers, one year ago.
Pictured above, Dave Klemp (left) and Taylor Short (right) discussing design strategy for the next phase of the project: Creating the Understory.
