Work in our Park

Spring Cleanup 2022

Spring Cleanup 2022 / Great KC Cleanup 2022

Over 50 helpers showed Roanoke Park some love on Earth Day weekend, just one slice of the city-wide GREAT KANSAS CITY CLEANUP.

Coffee provided by Broadway Cafe and Roasting awaited volunteers before they headed into the park. Many bags of litter were picked up along the trails or playgrounds. We can't give you a count because the parks department was scooping them up as fast as we filled them. Thanks to Gary, Terry, and H! One of those spots was handled by Councilman Eric Bunch and his family!

Conservancy board member Bret Kassen put in double duty! He helped cleanups as a city employee the day before then brought his whole family out for the Roanoke Park cleanup. Video evidence: instagram.com/p/CcyiWGdpA8a/

Help support Roanoke Park Conservancy by visiting our Donate Page: If you weren’t aware, we’ve been hiring a regular litter picker upper focussing around the playgrounds.
Sign up for occasional news and events emails in the right column of this website.

Enjoy the park!

Regarding the map in the blowup (click the top image): We didn't get the concrete, but the other trashy spots were cleaned up. (The concrete dump was noticed Feb. 13th. We don't know who did it. Same with the grafitti tag on the bluff rocks noticed May 12th. KCMO 311 requests have been put in on both issues.)

2017 Spring Cleanup and Planting Report

Many neighbors helped clean up and plant on Saturday, April 22

Spring Cleanup, April 22, 2017

At the Karnes Playground, Lance K. had help from a family of three volunteers from Volker to place 2 cubic yards of mulch around the Prairie Dropseed and bare spots around boulders. They also picked up trash around the playground as well as the Roanoke Drive Bluff.

A family from Coleman Highlands also with dad Brian helping to place mulch and pull weeds and pick up trash from the bluff and Layover trail. Mom Ashley and son Wesley picked up trash along Coleman Springs "Bindle Byway" trail and other trails.

Randy, Pete, Curt, Bret, Scott and Sonya helped cut brush honeysuckle by the Karnes playground.

Chris D. had help from Brandon and three youngsters to plant nine of the hazelnut shrubs along the front of the Old Roadbed Slope near the Coleman Highlands wetland, as well as pulling two trash bags worth of invasive garlic mustard.

26 more hazelnut shrubs were planted Sunday 5/7 along the old roadbed slope near the Coleman Highlands Spring area.
172 native wildflowers and grasses were planted on Wednesday 5/24 in the same area.
- Red Columbine to provide nectar for early pollinators and hummingbirds
- Purple Milkweed for the spring migrating Monarchs to lay their eggs on
- Sky Blue Aster for late blooming nectar (for the Monarchs migrating back south)
- and Little Bluestem as a border and interspersed with the wildflowers for year round interest.

Hazel-whats?

Charlie DeLong, son of volunteer park naturalist Chris DeLong, is undertaking the planting of hazelnut shrubs and pollinator friendly plants along the "old roadbed" between Karnes and the Coleman Highland Spring as his Eagle Scout project. His main work day for the planting of these shrubs was the afternoon of May 7th but we got started with a few of them on 4/22. The wildflowers went in Wednesday May 24. (It's actually an old rail bed. We found an 1877 map that shows the short lived K.C.M.&M. line going through there.)

A Missouri native plant, American Hazelnut, Corylus americana, was chosen for its suitablity to the site, wildlife value and beauty. Yes, the nuts are edible, although they are smaller than commercial hazelnuts and likely to be fewer in number. The plants for the sunnier east portion of the old roadbed slope include little bluestem, columbine, purple milkweed and sky blue aster. These were chosen to supply both larval food to early monarch butterflies heading north, and nectar to later monarch butterflies heading south.