Organizer hopes to impart environmental stewardship onto youth
by James McEvoy, Managing Editor
PLUMSTED — If you build it, they will perch.
That was the idea when a group of youth volunteers got together and revitalized the township’s Paradise Park.
Located on Lakeview Drive near Main Street, the park now is home to benches, tables, several bird baths, rain gardens and an 8-foot bird feeding station, thanks to a grant obtained by a local organization and the hard work of local youth.
William J. Lewis, head of the Nurture Environmental Stewardship Today!, a New Egypt-based nonprofit organization, said much of the work, made possible through a $3,000 Washington Crossing Audubon Society Holden Grant, was done by members of Plumsted Youth for Nature and the Environment.
Mr. Lewis said local businesses also were instrumental in the facelift of the 2-acre park, including Big Woods Garden Center and Nursery, a New Egypt business that donated plants after NEST! officials learned the grant would be less than the original $10,000 they had expected.
He also described with pride the fact each new plant had been placed by PYNE members.
”Some of them might be a little crooked, but the kids put them in the ground themselves, and it’s really a beautiful thing,” he said.
Upon learning of the grant award, Mr. Lewis said, there were two phases to the project. The first involved the facelift while the second provided binoculars and field guides for the youth.
”It’s all about teaching the kids about the birds and the habitat, not just adopting a local park,” he said. “It’s more about the stewardship and why we’re adopting the park; what kind of habitat it’s providing for the little critters.”
Youth were able to readily identify some of the more common birds among the 52 different species sighted at the park. They also have begun identifying birds in their backyard, Mr. Lewis said.
The community’s avian friends have taken to the park changes, he said.
”This is not just a park, it’s home,” he said. “It’s got all the trees, and it’s got all the cover for them so they feel relatively safe here. It’s been a huge success so far as I’m concerned.”
As for the future, the group is hoping to have a outdoor classroom constructed in the park to be utilized by local schools. While no timeline has been set for its construction, Mr. Lewis said it would be ideal to have it ready by the time schools reopen in the fall.
Mr. Lewis used the analogy of grandchildren selling treasured trinkets of their grandmothers since they were never able to touch or experience them and, thus, place a value on them.
”The same thing goes for land stewardship,” he said, noting the township’s commitment to preserving farmland and open space. “If the kids don’t get their hands in the dirt, just like grandma’s knickknacks, when we do pass over the torch to the kids, how much ownership are they going to have in what we worked so hard to preserve for them?”

