ELLICOTTVILLE — Nannen Arboretum Society volunteers got a lot of work done at Monday’s annual spring cleanup.
About 15 volunteers weeded, raked leaves, picked up branches and twigs, removed deer fencing and other spring chores at the arboretum behind the Ellicottville Town Center, said president Pat Kerl.
A side benefit to volunteers working outside were the many varieties of flowering trees.
Winter weather brought down a good number of branches and twigs which several people including Keith McKale picked up and put them in piles for pickup with a wagon.
Other volunteers included Gail Grillo, who raked around the Carolyn Lowe Herb Garden on the path to Lake Nipponica. She said she was being supervised by her 11-year-old black Labordoodle Magic who has a knack for catching Frizbees, which he did.
M.J. Brown and Sue Parsons were weeding and raking outside the front entrance to the Ellicottville Town Center. Gretchen Plough pitched in with the weeding and Diane Smith was raking leaves in the front of the building.
Nan Miller and Karen Chapman raked soil around the Eastern redbud tree the Nannen Arboretum Society planted for Arbor Day on Friday.
“Students from BOCES spent several days backfilling and seeding along the new asphalt walkway through the arboretum,” said Kerl.
New volunteers are welcome anytime, she said. The society meets at 9 a.m. each Monday to pick away at a list of chores for that week.
Visitors to the arboretum at 28 Parkside Drive in Ellicottville will find new signs at the entrance and tributes to both John Ploetz, who developed plans for the arboretum back in 1974, and Paul Kingston, for whom the Kingston Nature Trail.
Ploetz was a part-time Cornell Cooperative Extension horticultural aide when he drew up plans for the arboretum in 1974.
Ploetz sought grants to pay for it and picked most of the trees now at the arboretum, which was named for William Nannen, a local businessman and conservationist who donated the eight-acre property for the Cooperative Extension Center in 1958.
The Nannen Arboretum Society was formed as a not-for-profit group to maintain the arboretum after the town of Ellicottville purchased the center in 2013.
The arboretum is the scene of many weddings, receptions and other gatherings during the summer and fall months.
This coming winter, there are plans by Night Lights to light up parts of the trail and some of the trees with colorful LED lights in a bid to get people to get another perspective of the arboretum.
