This fall, Urban Sustainability Solutions welcomed back alumni apprentices from past Orange County Growing More Than Rain Gardens cohorts for two community planting days focused on stream restoration and watershed health. Joined by several teachers, community volunteers, and neighborhood partners, apprentices helped restore riparian buffers along two important Orange County waterways.
The first planting day took place along Morgan Creek in Chapel Hill in partnership with the Laurel Springs HOA, with funding support from the Piedmont Conservation Council. Apprentices and volunteers planted a variety of native tree and shrub tubelings, including winterberry, pawpaw, coralberry, and wax myrtle, to help stabilize streambanks, improve water quality, and enhance wildlife habitat. Community members and HOA volunteers worked alongside the apprentices, creating a collaborative effort to improve the health of the watershed. Apprentices were also compensated for their work, continuing the program's commitment to combining environmental stewardship with workforce development.
A second planting day was held along a section of Bolin Creek in partnership with the Bolin Forest Phase II HOA and funded by Orange County through the Orange County Community Climate Action grant. Restoration efforts focused on expanding riparian vegetation with native plantings and establishing a food forest based on the designs by some of the alumni. Plants installed included American hazelnut, elderberry, switchgrass, winterberry, spicebush, pawpaw, wax myrtle, and coralberry. These species will help reduce erosion, filter stormwater runoff, and provide habitat for pollinators, songbirds, and other wildlife as they become established.
It was great to see former apprentices eagerly return to support watershed restoration projects, apply skills they learned through the program, and continue making a positive difference in their communities. We are grateful to our funders, HOA partners, volunteers, teachers, and returning apprentices who helped make both events a success!
