Good Day Uncut: Community Tree Planting

Philadelphia, we are uncut. Alright everybody, what's going on? It is your old buddy, your old pal, your trusted friend Hanky. What's going on everybody? Second day back after recovering from a broken leg. You have no idea how glad I am to see you. Thanks for joining us. This is Uncut. And today it's a volunteer day down at good old FDR Park. Fairmount Park Conservancy once again flexing out in order to show how it should be done. More greenifying the city, if that is the word for it. A ton of trees to be planted down here over the next couple of days, as many as 70 to 90, possibly 95 going in today. What do I know? Shut up, Hank. Let's talk to Darren DeMone about it. Darren, please introduce yourself. You're sort of in charge of this whole outfit today. Tell us about that and a lot of other things as well. For today, yeah, nice to see you. Yeah, so my name's Darren DeMone. I am the director of landscape with Fairmount Park Conservancy. Wow. And today we are here at Meadow Lake in FDR. Right. Looking at a beautiful restoration planting around Meadow Lake. When we talk about a restoration planting, define that. Were there once trees here before somehow, maybe? It's just an area that needs them. The whole city needs trees. We know that. Exactly, yeah. At one time, this was, you know, surrounding Meadow Lake was a naturalized area of planting. So it had a lot of a buffer of vegetation around it, if you will. Right. And we refer to that as a riparian zone around the lake. So, what we did is we are restoring that buffer around the lake. Okay. And that does a lot of good things for the environment. It soaks up a lot of water, it filters a lot of the storm water that's coming off the hard surfaces within the park. So it provides a real benefit to the environment and also, you know, from a beauty aspect, really beautifies the park for all the users that come here to FDR Park. Yeah, no question about it. And as we know, guys, I mean, we've done some of these things with Conservancy before. I'm a big fan, probably of maybe one of their most important dynamics, which is that, yeah. There are professionals like Darren running it, but most of the muscle, almost all the muscle here is volunteer, is it not? Tell me about the roles. Remind us of the roles the volunteers play with you all. Yeah, we really, to be honest with you, wouldn't be able to do the scale of work that we're doing on projects like this without volunteers. So to give you a sense of scale, you know, here at Meadowlake, this fall we're on track to plant over 150 trees. But in total, we're looking to plant over 560 trees around Meadowlake. Um, for this, you know, this planting season. So, um, it really, and that, you know, on planting, with plantings of that scale, it cannot be done with employee, uh, employees alone. It needs to be done through, uh, volunteers and partnerships. Well, and that presents an interesting challenge then, doesn't it? Because you're working with folks, maybe you didn't plant a tree before. They might be real, real good at it. It might be the queen of the corner community garden. Yep. They might not, but the labor comes at each end and everywhere in between, which makes It's your job to simplify instruction without losing anything because these trees need to live and thrive. Yep. And really that comes down to, and you can see actually what's happening right now, Torja, who is one of my team members, is helping to give and demonstrate direction to these volunteers on the proper ways of planting a tree. Sure. He's given a block of instruction it looks like. It's interesting, Darren. I'm not crying. What exactly does he have to tell them? I mean, I would be one of the ones on the lower end. You'd need to ABC me on planting a tree. There's common sense to it, but what you all have done here, if you look at some of the ones that have been planted, I would never have put a screen around it, which makes perfectly good sense. Now they're protected. There is this... What is that down on the bottom? Is that seeded somehow? That's a cocoa fiber disc, and that's really intended to help suppress weeds. Suppress weeds? But it also helps to retain moisture. Okay. So really what we're doing in terms of direction is we're giving direction on how to prep the actual site, so we're moving the turf that you can see that was once there. And then what we're doing is we're digging the hole, prepping the tree, the root ball that comes out of the pot. And really setting the tree up for success, and then providing protection in place to protect it against white-tailed deer, which are known to be around the park and love to eat these newly planted trees. Well, alright, so the challenges keep coming, but we also have done the research in Philadelphia over the last years. We now know, and have known for generations, what trees we should... and shouldn't plant in different places. Someone told me earlier though that you all have invasive species in mind down here in FDR Park, probably the rest of the city parks as well. What role do they play? What's the biggest violator out there? What's invasive in Philadelphia parks these days, Darren? So down here I mean you'll see a lot of porcelain berry vines and mile a minute or a lot of the vines that we compete with and then you have uh trees and and other plant material like devil's walking stick and paper mulberry that are all introduced species that compete for space and resources right resources i mean sunlight and water um to uh really out compete our native vegetation and that's why we you know in terms of preparation this this area that you see here required two years of preparation before we actually came in and we're ready to plant because we again we want to set these trees up for success and part of that is removing the invasive species that are here to begin with no question about it but it comes down to almost micromanagement in a certain way not with the trees but if you think in terms of the park they're all in Philadelphia you can say all these parks here on one hand you can say they're all the same they're all in the same region they're all in Philadelphia right so a lot of the things should be the same but they're not necessarily are they i mean you got someone riverside you got some up on the tops of hills they're They're all very, very different, and there's probably a fiscal limit to which you can, but it all has to be addressed as specifically as possible, and the challenge is that our lovely parks present. We've got to meet them in order to keep the parks. Yeah. Prioritization is a huge part of our selection process, and the reason we choose places like FDR Park is they provide tremendous environmental benefit, but they also provide tremendous cultural benefit for the community around it. This is the South Philly Park. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Making a decision to invest in this park is a very easy one because of those reasons, because there's confluence of benefits that you see when we make investments like this. All right, and one tech question before I go to break. Is this a Phillies volunteer thing? Because I've been down here a few times, and the Phillies have sent packs. This might not be one of those. This is not. This is not. But there you... But that would be one group of volunteer helpers that you all have certainly depended on and will depend on again in the future? We frequently partner with the Phillies, with Eagles and other corporate partners as well. All right. Well, Darren DeMone, thank you very much, guys. He is in charge of lands. Can you imagine being in charge of landscaping for the Fairmount Park Conservancy? I don't know how the man sleeps at night, guys. We will be back here to FDR Park South Philadelphia in just a couple of minutes. Take a quick break. When we get back, we're going to take a higher view. Talk about the volunteers and look about stuff. Look about stuff. Where did I go to school? We're going to go straight into the future as well. There's events coming up in the next couple of weeks you're going to want to know about. You're going to want to volunteer. Get off your duff and come on out. We'll be right back with more on Fox. All right, everybody back in South Philadelphia at FDR Park, where Fairmount Park Conservancy are having yet another volunteer day. They have a lot of them because we got a lot of great parks in our city. They all need love. And who else is going to love them if it's not going to be Sarah? Hi, good morning. Introduce yourself to the folks. I'm Sarah Peterson. I'm communications director for Fairmount Park Conservancy. We are the nonprofit partner to the city of Philadelphia. Trying to boost drive engagement and investment in Philadelphia Parks and this fall is a really great time for volunteers to help us in that mission. Beautiful. You talked about energizing help and doing that. What's the best way to do that? I feel like if you can get them out once you'll get them for another dozen times because it is a good time. We do have a lot of returning volunteers because it's a really good experience. You don't just feel good about yourself, you feel good about your city, you get to know new people. Yeah, no question about it. You make friends, absolutely. Well, I mean, in this particular case, you can learn new things that you can maybe go back to your neighborhood and apply in your own corner garden in West Philadelphia or wherever you may live. You can do it in your backyard. You live somewhere else, but you can learn things out here as well. Also about what you should and should not plant in your own yard. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. There's a little bit of education in every volunteer event, as you can see here. Um, Sarah, tell me a little bit about Love Your Park. It's not just you. But another gentleman, another one of your leaders, and one of your sergeants out here with the Love Your Park, and I'm told that's an initiative that is coming up. And it's like all of your initiatives, or at least most of them, it's a volunteer game. So what is it? How can I jump in and help? Absolutely. Love Your Park is a partnership between Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, and community groups around the city to activate hundreds and hundreds of volunteers in one weekend in the fall to attend. 100 different events around the city. You can sign up in the park nearest to you, volunteer for a day. This is a really important time for us to be getting Philadelphia parks ready for winter so that they can have a beautiful spring and summer. And so we are looking for people to help plant trees, help plant flowers, help rake leaves so that the walkways are clear. I guess that's what I was going to say. It might be more of a daring question, but how do you winterize your parks? I think a lot of it is a daring question. Mulching trees is important also, though. And so a lot of work just getting ready, making sure that we pick up trash that won't get stuck in those snow piles over the winter, all of that stuff. And so it takes a lot of people. We are looking to recruit hundreds and hundreds of people this fall. And it's... It is coming up on November 13th through 15th. November 13th through 15th. There's got to be a place online I can find that, right? There sure is. I'm glad you asked. It's loveyourpark.org. You can find a map. You can find a list. You can find a calendar. I can click on a button and get my name on a volunteer list, all that good stuff. You absolutely can. All right. Now, I don't know this gentleman here, and I'd hate to talk about him. Can you talk to me for a second? Do you mind? Do you volunteer here? I'm a volunteer leader, yeah. You're a volunteer leader. Give me one quick second. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Sarah. I appreciate it. What's your name? Lucas. Lucas, it's okay. Okay, there might be... Mike, Lucas, tell me, when it comes to volunteering and volunteer leaders, again, you've got all kinds of different people coming in, all of them with the goodwill to help out, but with varying degrees of skill. The only reason I asked to talk to you is I saw you prepping this tree down here, and it looked like you were taking your time with it and caring for it. It looks like you're doing a good job. What's your experience with the other volunteers and bringing them up to a place where they can? Help. I mean, again, some of them have been here already and can jump right in. Yeah, I mean, we just take the time to really explain to them how to properly do it. And I find that usually people do pretty well with it. I did it. We have enough people here where everyone can just take their time. There's no rush or anything. So, yeah, it's a pretty easy skill to pick up, honestly. All right, Lucas, last question. The kids these days, they love to say touch grass. Yeah. Dude, you got both feet buried deep in it, and both your hands are dirty. You're touching grass to find right now. What does it do for you? It's fine, honestly. It's fun to come back to these places where you planted stuff and then see wildlife using it. I'm not doing it. It definitely is a valuable experience, and it's a meaningful experience. I'll leave you to it. So I would recommend it. Fair enough. Lucas, I'll leave you to it. I really appreciate it. Thanks for your expertise. Willing to talk. Thanks for planting, my friend. Thank you, sir. Sarah, good example right there, I'm guessing, because the guy's literally, the guy's taking his time, knows what he's doing, and I think he said he's a volunteer leader, too, so he's somebody that you all can count on to maybe piggyback on education, piggyback on planting and stuff. He knows what he's doing, he can teach people, right? He does, exactly, exactly. Our volunteer leaders are really helpful for our volunteer program. Last year, we had 1,400 volunteers come to 63 different events. That's really good. It is really good, and it's possible because of the added support that our volunteer leaders bring to us. So we're really grateful for that. Well, and it's something that you all would have come to, like, a realization years ago, knowing that this is where a lot of your power is, that you're going to have to alter or change or at least conservancy-ify the volunteer game. You're going to have to appreciate them in certain ways. Make them want to come back, like making volunteers a big part of what it is you do. It almost takes a little bit of magic, like there's some fine touches involved there. Absolutely, we've been doing this for a long time and it's something where we have a really great team behind all of our volunteer efforts. We're really strategic about where we're also making sure that we are using all this wonderful volunteer support to make sure that our city is green and sustainable for the future. We're not just trying to make our parks beautiful, we are, but we want them to be beautiful and we want them to be here in the future giving us shade. Managing our stormwater and supporting future generations as well. That's a really big part of our mission Yeah, no good stuff is the Love Your Park website the same as the Conservancy websites because we can You know, you love your parks a program Conservancy's here all you can volunteer both ways. That's right You can volunteer you can find volunteer events at love your park dot org. You can also find Conservancy led events at MyPhillyPark.org, and that includes Great Volunteer Days. It also includes free public programs, things like boating on the lake in FDR Park or going to dancing in FDR Park or doing yoga in Fairmount Park. We have all kinds of free events at MyPhillyPark.org. All right, fair enough. Sarah, thank you so much. And guys, this just sprung into my mind. You might be seeing my creaky old bones up at yoga in Fairmount Park before too long. Only to just bust the rust off. Guys, we're going to be back down here to FDR Park South, Philadelphia's big, beautiful park right down here by the river, by the ballparks with the volunteers, with the good people that keep it green, mean, and beautiful. We'll be right back. All right, guys, here we are a little bit deeper in the park with the true volunteers. If these Fairmount Park Conservancy volunteers are Navy SEALs, this is where SEAL Team 6 is. There is Eli and Noel. They are digging in there. I think this is their fifth tree so far. Everybody's here. We got mixing going on over there. It's like a fertilizer slurry of some sort. Liz, these guys are on fire. Are these your children, their friends? Thank you for letting us talk. It's a microphone. That's fabulous. So what brought you all out? Mom, it's like, look, we can help out and it can be a family thing. Eight cool things at once. Yep. So something to do for our day off from school. I have three kids here. I have my six-year-old twins and my My nine-year-old, and then these are their cousins. OK. So we're out here enjoying the nice weather and trying to spruce up our local park. It sounds wonderful. How's it going now? Have y'all been out here all morning? We've been out here for a couple hours now, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty, y'all got gloves on, but you guys don't mind getting dirty. Does mom get you guys out in the yard a lot anyway? Oh yeah. So David, all right, let me have the mic for a second. David, you and I got to come to grips, my man. You came here loaded for bear. Hold that microphone, hold it up to your face. With a mullet, And a Randy Macho Man Savage t-shirt. You have the power of seven volunteers out here young man. Do you realize that? Yeah, how's it been so far David? How do you bring a rock and roll attitude to plant these beautiful trees and making it a prettier park? How do you do it good? You do it good. You're the man. I appreciate who's your favorite wrestler now? Randy Savage. Randy Savage, why not? Oh, yes, snap into it. He really did have a lot of style. I appreciate you, David. God bless you, and thanks for working out here in the park today. You're a good one. Thanks so much. Good stuff. Liz, how many cousins do your children have? I mean, can you guys be out here 35 strong? You could be vice president of the Conservancy this time next year with this kind of power. It's like we have a little team here. That's right. Yeah. I know. It's nice because my boys live in the city, so it's nice to get out here and plant some trees and then their cousins are in from out of town so it's nice to have their expertise. It's beautiful and you have a kind sweet soul but I've got to ask you like you're thinking 19 different ways and you know good and well how good this is for them if they're out here doing this they're not camped out in front of the screen or whatever it is. What is it that you like the most about this? Is it just the fact, you get them outside and get them working, nature will handle the rest? That's it. We get some fresh air, some exercise, and then we get to do something that we can come back and enjoy next time we're at the park. Okay, so before I go to a quick, well, not even a quick break, look at the camera and tell the audience, because I know there's moms watching, good days. Dads, you too. I mean, I had many days where I was parenting my guys. If you're worried about things to do... Put your name down on a list and come on out. This is actually, like, it's better than you think. It's fun. And you might think it's great, but... Yep. Yeah, how many times have you all done this? Have you done it a lot? This is our first time doing the official tree planting here at FDR Park. We've done some cleanup events before, but this is the first time tree planting. It's been really fun. And your children are, for lack of a better term, learning to be somewhat service-minded, and knowing that the work that they put into their public spaces is the work that they can enjoy. That's it. And my youngest are six, and they've been genuinely helpful. That's helpful. Yup. Absolutely awesome. David, give me one up high. It's great to meet you guys. Dirty Hands, my man. Give me another one. Boom. I love you guys. I'm so proud of you all. Listen, guys, let me have that back real quick, Liz. Can I? Thank you. Fairmount Park Conservancy. Anybody, guys, got anything they want to say about the tree planting today? Who's going to do a little? Eli, give me something. Give me a quick word. How's it going out here? You got five down. How many more will you plant today? And your braces look really cool, by the way. Thank you. You're welcome. Um, like, maybe like... Three or two more. You think three or two more? Yeah. However many there are, right? Yeah. All right. Fair enough. Good stuff. What about you, big fella? How many more trees do you think you can plant? One. One. One more? Fair enough. Now, Noel, give me a quick word on what you're stirring up here, because it looks like we're three days after Halloween. It's looking kind of witchy, and we're out here in the woods. It looks like you might be stirring up some kind of a weird potion, maybe for making trees healthy. Um, we... It's this thing we use for the trees. It's like the water and the thing we put on the tree. Okay. The dirt and the water. It helps the tree live, right? It helps it take root in the ground. It gives it the water and the dirt. Got it. It helps it out. It helps it to live. Great job, guys. Listen, these five children are better naturalists than literally the first five adults that I could possibly name. Thanks to Conservancy. Even more importantly, thanks. To you, Liz, great job. Thanks so much. Guys, come on out and plant trees with the kids in the park in the Fairmount Park Conservancy. Guys, it's one of the best things about this city. You take your mural arts, all these different things that are unique to Philadelphia. Conservancy is one of them. Come on out and volunteer. Give me two. We'll be right back to sign off. But don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. I'm telling you what y'all, this is a perfect day for it. An absolutely gorgeous day for it as fall settles in. The leaf peeping down here in FDR Park is absolutely insane. Come down here for the leaves and stay to plant more trees as these gentlemen are doing. This is Eduardo Duenas. Eduardo, a pleasure to see you. Thanks so much for having us again. Don't worry about getting the mic dirty. I will clean them later. Let's start with what you just did. This all had to start in some place. At a certain point, Eduardo was 8, 10, 12, 20 years old. But somebody had to take you at some point and say, Eduardo, get your hands dirty. Dig deep here. Dig a hole. I'm going to put some water and some stuff in it. We're going to plant this tree. Exactly. Exactly. What I like to remember about that is how impactful it was for me. Yeah. And then we're doing the same, seeing kids here participating with their parents. This is great. And then that's something that it will last in them. Who did it for you? Have you been a planting man for your whole life? Have you always worked with the nature? Yes, I like experiments. As a kid, I put a lot of corn basically in the ground. See the plants come out and fell in love about it. Did that make your parents crazy when you had a whole cornfield growing up in the backyard? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They know I was fine. That's pretty good. So, Eduardo, you do a lot of work with the volunteers here, and you're also working a Love Your Park, Love Your City shirt. It's only befitting that we go ahead and talk about Love Your Park once again as a program. What are you looking forward to about Love Your Park coming up in a couple of weeks, and how many preparations do you have to make? All the prep is done, this is one of our most important volunteer events in the year, so we do it in conjunction with the city of Philadelphia, of course. So Fairmount Park Conservancy is ready. We just need the volunteers. So far, our projection is more than 1,000 volunteers. The goal is 1,500 though, right? That's something that we'll be satisfied with, but we like 2,000. Well, I was going to say, when we're talking about volunteers, there's never enough. 3,000 would be even better than that, and then you've got an army of people working on our parks, and the next thing you know, it looks like the Queen's Gardens. What keeps you coming back to this? How did you find your place here? The reason I ask is because I know there's people that are watching. And this is something, I'm just coming back off of a broken leg. Like, there are people that are paralyzed in their stillness. I'm trying to get people to come out and get their hands dirty and plant things because it's not just good for the park, it's really good for you. You could change your own life by coming out here. And again, as the kids say, touching grass. Yeah, well, there is a task for everyone. Everyone is welcome. And also, as you can see, that is the physical task of digging, but that's not the only thing we're doing. We're watering, we're planting, we're protecting trees. Anyone can do it, actually. No excuses. Right. No, we don't need any excuses. We're doing good. I've only got almost a little bit more than a minute left, Eduardo, so let's put the plea out and get the rest of those 500,000 volunteers out for Love Your Park. How do they find out about it more? Well, the website. Website, whatever it is, and how can they volunteer? Yes, easily to go to loveyourpark.org or you can do your own search, Love Your Park, and you will be prompted to volunteer. We have more than 100 parks to choose, so you can go to the closest one or you can go to a totally new one. Beautiful. Eduardo, thank you so much for the work that you're doing for leading these people. I appreciate it. We'll see you soon. Sarah, give me one last word, will you? Yes. I mean, you're always speaking up for the park. It's your job. It sure is. But when it's your job and it's one that you believe in, you'll even do it outside the clock when you're not being paid. What's the most important part of this? Why do people need to come out and help? Oh, absolutely. So, I mean, our parks are just a part of our daily life. Philadelphians, most Philadelphians live within 10 minutes of their nearest park. So it's woven into what it means to live in Philadelphia. We need to take care of our parks. They take so much good care of us. Yes, so join us. November 13th through 15th. We love your park. Excellent. Thank you so much once again, Cheryl. Let me have that microphone back. You got it. Appreciate it. Guys, we are at FDR Park getting some trees planted. Near 100 of them. Children ages 15 all the way up to 95 are out here doing it. Listen, guys, lots of great Fox 29 content coming up. Jen, Fred, rocking the High Noon Show coming at you guys. I'll see you tomorrow for another one. Be safe and be well.