It was an amazing weekend in Voyageurs National Park. The Volunteer Rendezvous was a great success! 36 volunteers gave 255 hours of service and helped the park complete several important projects.
Volunteers restored an entire island on Friday by removing an outhouse and other debris from the landscape. They also enjoyed seeing the park by boat.
On Saturday, volunteers planted 351 native plants along the recreation trail and in the Ethnobotanical Garden at the Rainy Lake Visitor Center (that's 59 white spruce, 4 white pine, 74 bristly rose, 2 snowberries, 35 common junipers, 16 bush honeysuckles, 90 wild sarsaparilla, 22 Canada columbines, 4 red baneberries, and 45 prairie onions). They also removed many invasive thistles and other weeds.
After a hard day of work, volunteers were invited to an appreciation dinner on the park boat. We hope everyone enjoyed the food and the beauty of the park!
We could not do all this without those of you who support us in myriad ways. Thank you to all of our members, for helping to fund important events like the Volunteer Rendezvous - and for all the volunteers who gave their time over the weekend!
We are also grateful to the sponsors of this year's Volunteer Rendezvous: Fredrikson & Byron, P.A., Highlight Printing, Midwest Mountaineering, Stewart's Super One, Coffee Landing Cafe and the National Park Service.
Thank you all so much!
