If you've enjoyed the beautiful trees along the Northwest River Trail in Marietta, you can now take an active role in helping to maintain that beauty. The Marietta Shade Tree Committee is looking for volunteers to help with its new initiative, Our Forest Volunteer Days. Volunteers will be asked to cut English ivy and other invasive vines away from the base of trees along the trail.

"We're holding one volunteer day per month, on the last Saturday of the month through April, focused on cutting as best as we can and removing as much of the invasive and aggressive vines that have climbed their way to the top of the trees," said Brandon Tennis, who is leading the project. Removing the vines will not only decrease the overall weight in the tree canopy, he stated, but will also decrease competition for resources such as sunlight that the trees face from the presence of the vines. "Right now, the vines are thriving while the trees are compensating," Tennis remarked. "We want to flip that." Volunteers will cut the vines at the base, so the vines at the top of the trees will die off, he noted. Sessions will be held on Saturdays, Feb. 25, March 25 and April 29, from 10 a.m. to noon. Volunteers should meet on the trail at the south end of Chestnut Street in Marietta.

The project is an initiative Tennis brought to the Shade Tree Committee. "We're really fortunate that our borough has its own forest," noted Tennis, who is a natural lands planning and management expert. "Everybody loves the trail, the Marietta section in particular, and it's our responsibility to maintain the health of the forest that surrounds the trail. The health of the forest equates to the beauty of it."

Tennis came up with the idea for the volunteer project after noticing the overgrowth of invasive plants while exploring the trail with his family. "We are on the trail every day," he said. "Through my work, I can never simply enjoy a trail. I always have an eye on the issues. I had been concerned about the health of the borough's floodplain forest, and species removal is almost always the first step in habitat restoration."

He noted that no experience is necessary to help with the vine removal, adding that he plans to bring his own children, who are 4 and 7 years old, to help. "Anybody can do this," he remarked. "We are asking people who are able to bring their own tools, including hand pruners, loppers or a pruning saw. I'll be there to give instructions, but it's pretty basic volunteer work. You need as many hands as possible to help with this."

For more information on volunteering, contact Lillian Hill at 717-309-3309. Volunteers do not need to sign up but can just show up on the day of the activity.