Each fall, students from Friends School of Baltimore visit Irvine for their annual community service day. This year, 22 6th and 7th grade students spent a couple of hours mulching Irvine’s trails – making them much safer and more accessible!
Mulching is incredibly important for the trails at Irvine. Between student field trips, preschool classes, volunteers, staff, and visitors, there are many pairs of feet walking our trails each day. Overtime, this pressure compacts the soil, and makes it much less permeable. Adding a fluffy layer of mulch on top absorbs rainfall and reduces puddling. This is not only better for the environment, it is also plain safer! When a spot on the trail is particularly muddy, many will walk off trail to circumnavigate it, potentially harming our native flora and fauna! The mulch helps reduce this issue.
The Friends students used wood chip mulch that came from some downed trees on the property. They covered over a quarter mile worth of trail in some of our most high-traffic areas! Due to their hard work, the trails have held out well with the recent rains!
Thank you again to the Friends School of Baltimore Middle School students!
