Plant Trees in New Park05/03/2008 The Northfield Neighborhood Association is developing a new park in an empty city-owned lot.  The space is relatively small, right next to Waller Creek.  Volunteers envision a space where children and adults will gather to enjoy the creek and the vegetation.  Volunteers are needed to dig holes and plant 30 small native trees in the ground.   Date:  Saturday, May 3rd, 2008Time: 10:00am-5:00pm (It’s ok to show up any time during this time frame.  Minimum one hour commitment requested)Location: 55th and ½ St at Waller Creek, east of Guadalupe and west of Chesterfield (Central Austin- 78751)Map Link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=west+405+west+55th+1%2F2+street+austin,+tx&sll=30.317635,-97.715271&sspn=0.027859,0.039997&ie=UTF8&ll=30.322508,-97.723045&spn=0.027857,0.039997&t=p&z=15>Parking:  Along the street (please be considerate of neighbors’ driveways)Contact: Laura Mondino mondino@mail.utexas.eduNotes:  Please bring your own digging tools.  If you want to volunteer but do not have a shovel, please let the contact person know.  Refreshments (bottled water and home made bread) will be provided. 

Slaughter Creek Trail Building05/03/2008 Hosted by the Austin Ridge Riders Mountain Bike Club (This Event Is Eligible For Pay Dirt Hours).  The proposed target date for completing and opening the Slaughter Creek Trail is March /April 2008, so come on out and lend a hand.   Date: May 3rd        Time:  9am-1:00pmLocation:  9901 Camp Ben McCullough Rd. (aka: FM1826) at Slaughter Creek, (SW Austin-78737) What to Bring: sturdy shoes or boots, sun block, bug repellent, work gloves, eye protection, WATER, & food (i.e., energy bars and/or sandwich).  Directions:

• From Austin, go to the Y in Oak Hill.  Continue west on Hwy 290 and turn left onto  Camp Ben McCullough Rd./FM1826 (third traffic light after the Y). Drive approximately 2 miles, cross the low water bridge over Slaughter Creek and the property/gate entrance will be on your left.  Drive up the driveway to the parking lot.
• From Circle C and other areas in South Austin, take Slaughter Lane to Camp Ben McCullough Rd./FM1826. Turn left on Camp Ben/1826. Drive approximately 1 mile. Cross the low water bridge over Slaughter Creek and the property/gate entrance will be on your left.  Drive up the driveway to the parking lot.

Contact: Britt Jones at bikejones2426@yahoo.com or call 512-423-0889

Copperfield Nature Trails Workday05/17/2008 As it get close to summer it gets too hot to have greenbelt workdays along Walnut Creek, but the Copperfield Nature Trails Group has a few fun tasks on their to do list before the heat comes.  The current workday agenda includes:

• Plant mountain laurel and native plums and maybe a few other plants.
• Dig holes and reset two trail markers in concrete so the vandals can't pull them out again
• Dig holes and install two posts and piece of lattice to support cross vines we planted along the storm drain.
• A few areas of the main trail on the way to Yager need someone to take a pick axe to the ruts left by the 4wheelers to smooth the trail. 
• Mow and weed whack along the "scenic loop" trail and the trail at the Shropshire entrance.
• Whack a 1 inch stump out of the trail somewhere near Shropshire (I trip over it when I run, but then I can't find it on workdays!)
• A few areas along the fence line trail need to be widened by lopping back the cedar branches.

 Date: May 17th    Time:  9am-12pm (noon)Location:  dead-end of Blakeney Lane (NE Austin – 78753) Contact:  copperfield-trails@austin.rr.com or 835-2401