Mike Hicks of AmeriCorps plants trees
along the banks of New River. Hicks
is from Bronx, New York. River Builders
Project as part of JTPA's summer youth project.
AmeriCorps is a program similar to JobCorps
where volunteers, usually college-age students
throughout the United States, get a chance to
work during the summer.
The New River Builders are back at work on the river - planting trees where the banks are threatened by erosion.
The AmeriCorps volunteers started planting tree seedlings and other plant materials on the banks of the New River last month.
Over a five-week-period, the team will be planting seedlings and live stakes along the banks of the river. Seedling varieties include cherry, walnut, plum, ash and several species of oak.
Live stakes are cuttings from native plants which take root after being inserted in the river banks. The plantings are part of a comprehensive effort to preserve the water quality of the New River Basin watershed, according to Jim Winfield, project director.
"Technically, the project focuses on bank stabilization and river bank zone development on the mainstream and tributaries," Winfield said. "The stream bank stabilization will prevent tons of soil from being eroded off the banks of the New River and being deposited as sediment."
The AmeriCorps team is the latest work team to participate in the New River Builder Project, which began in 1998.