SATURDAY, OCT. 25 at 9 A.M.

RIPE @ Cooper Gulch Park

See Event Description

Event Title: RIPE @ Cooper Gulch Park

When: Saturday, October 25th, 2025, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM, arrive late or leave early, work for any portion of the event.

Meeting Place: 11th street, where 11th street dead ends into the park, about a block east of O street. If you get there late, go into that entrance, and then head south on the trails, you’ll see us within 150 yards of the entrance at most. The dumpster will be put at the meeting place, so we’ll be heading back and forth to it.

Note: the dumpster was put in the wrong place last time, so don’t use the dumpster as a sign you’re in the right place. Next, we aren’t meeting in the park’s main parking lot.

Activity Description: mostly dragging out English holly that has already been cut down. We will have a large cart to help with this.

What to bring: we will have tools and safety equipment for everyone, but it helps us a lot if you bring your own. Bring thick long-sleeved clothing and water, and bring gloves if you have them.

Why This Matters:

Holly trees with berries are uncommon, but the high number in Cooper Gulch Park is extreme. We have been targeting the fruiting holly trees in CGP recently, and need help hauling everything out. If the green waste isn’t hauled out, it will pose a fire risk and the berries on the dead plants may be distributed.

At the September event, we filled a bin with 1,220 pounds of holly branches with berries (we removed the trunks to reduce the weight and save the city money). Birds are eating these berries and spreading them into residents’ yards and into the McKay Community Forest, where numerous holly sprigs are coming up.

The paths where we have been working are also fairly secluded because of the dense vegetation. The work we’re doing has opened the space up a lot and has made the trails safer.

Next, $5,000,000 was spent to revitalize the salmonid habitat in the streams that run through Cooper Gulch Park. This project involved digging the streams out, putting logs in place to provide shelter for the fish, and planting a narrow corridor of native plants around the stream. The hill above the stream is covered with English holly and cotoneaster, whose root systems are making the hillside extremely hard and impermeable to water when it rains. This causes deluges during storms, which isn’t good for the health of the stream.

Kid Friendly? Yes, but children must be accompanied by an adult. Children can help us haul out green waste, which is a fairly safe activity.

Bathroom Access: yes, public restrooms are located near the ball field.

Link to event description: https://www.riperadicators.org/upcoming-events

DATES/TIMES

• Saturday, Oct. 25 : 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

WHERE

• See Event Description

PRICE

• Free