WEED WARRIORS

We are passionate about advocating for communities living in a healthy environment, in harmony with nature, as stewards of earth's finite resources - air, land, and water. Our goal is to inspire everyone to understand the need for conservation, the best use and sustainable use of of natural resources, and to become an environmental steward, especially in local neighborhoods. We believe contributing locally makes a difference globally. Our program reaches peoples in neighborhoods of diverse cultures by involving them in projects and with the opportunity to plan, implement and manage community projects. Environment health, social equity, stewardship of public places and resources, economic prosperity are all goals of a sustainable community. We believe the connecting people to nature through local stewardship creates a sustainable community for future generations.

Our Weed Warrior Program Strategy includes implementing the following programs and projects that connect people to their local resources, such public parks, trails and open spaces. Here are the programs that enable us to achieve our goal of promoting environmental stewardship:

"Nature Stewards" Program connect people to nature.
Participants learn what it means to become an environmental steward. They learn about native plants and invasive noxious weeds that wreak havoc to our environment, experience “hands on" activities in community parks and gardens, learn how to build a rain garden to mitigate storm water runoff, how to establish a wildlife friendly backyard, courtyard or balcony, and more. Volunteers are students and adults from the community who participate in projects that positively affect the environmental health of our neighborhoods and our public areas. Meetings and forums include topics relating to environmental sustainability and living in harmony with nature. Events include an Earth Day event and tree planting events. We provide vegetable garden plant starts for home gardens, educational outreaches to schools, an awards ceremony for Earth Heroes from elementary schools. All to engage and inspire environmental stewardship.

"Boots on the Ground" projects offer the opportunity to get your gloves and boots dirty.
These projects include invasive weed assessment, removal, and habitat restoration with native species plants and trees that stabilize and bring a healthy balance to the environment. The Weed Warrior program encourages and facilitates volunteer stewardship of public places. We provide the tools and the gloves, expertise and training. Stabilized weed infestations are often large and economically unfeasible for cities and communities to control successfully without assistance from non-profit organizations like us that offer engaging "boots on the ground" projects.

"Knights of the Living Forest" program develops responsibility for the natural landscape.
Participants learn about stewardship and chivalry and how it pertains to the environment. The program empowers community volunteers to help shape the environmental health of their public places.

"Living in Harmony with Nature" is just what it implies.
This program encourages the use of native plants in landscapes to support wildlife. Participants learn what it means to live in harmony with nature, and why it's important to plant native plants and trees that provide food and shelter for wildlife, like birds, butterflies and bees. We encourage everyone to get involved, and inspire communities to become a "Wildlife Habitat Community." Today's youths are tomorrow's citizens, civic leaders, and nature stewards of the next generation. The program invites all ages to participate in the projects, events, and meetings.

Though our collaborations with partners in the non-profit and business sectors, we have accomplished much.
We launched our first project in February of 2008 with the massive ivy removal and habitat restoration of the Newcastle Historical Cemetery. Since 2008, volunteers have removed various species of invasive noxious weeds in many locations, reaching over an impressive amount of volunteer time totaling a 24266.76 hours through December of 2019. The benefits of our weed control and restoration projects are priceless, since the projects relieve the burden of the local jurisdictions. If a price could be put a value of the total volunteer service hours, this would total $676,366.86, thanks to many volunteers and our dedicated board of directors.

We have grown in leaps and bounds since we launched in 2008. Will you partner with us to do even more?
Our future plans include more video recording of projects, instructional workshops available on our website and through the use of social media to reach a larger audience about the importance of environmental stewardship.