Hear that? That’s our woods. Calling you. 

We’re a community of thinkers, do-ers, creators. Look what we accomplished in 2000: When the Big Woods needed us, we were there. More than $4 million was raised in 15 months to purchase these woods–saving them from serious development.

This is who we are, Bay Ridge. And we’re needed again. This time in a unique and fun way.

See, our woods had been un-maintained for the 100 years prior to our purchase. That’s a long time. To that end, our Forest Management Committee has been hard at work restoring the health of our woods for the past 10 years. And here’s the good news: the heavy lifting is done! The woods have been largely cleared of the larger invasive sources–but now need ongoing maintenance to give our trees a chance to grow.

This is where you come in.

The concept of the BRCA “Adopt-a-Plot” program is to divide our Big Woods into individual mapped chunks, manageable by a Bay Ridge family or group of individuals for the limited, but extremely important purpose of controlling invasive vines.

How cool is this? By adopting a plot, you’re taking a lead role in securing both our community’s heritage and its future. Learn more about why it matters and see how to get involved.

Here are come of the comments folks have left on our Adopter Reporting link:

“The markers are great!”

“The trees are smiling at our efforts.”

“While we were working we could actually hear the trees sigh with relief.  I must say this project is quite rewarding, I can see where annual maintenance will really make a difference.”

“GREAT JOB  You made this a wonderful experience.”

“I went into the woods with 2 teens that had a little bit of an attitude about having to be a woods warrior on a Saturday morning, and I came out with 2 teens with huge smiles and lots of laughter.   Are they the same two I went in with????” 

“plot 30 was tended to and the trees were given some love and hugs.”

“Derek and Caroline made the ‘journey’ to the woods and you could almost hear the trees take a deep breath after being released from their tangles.”

“Thank you for this program! Looking forward to visiting our friends again this fall!”

“Just want to say that’s it well-designed and easy to execute program. Well done!”

“The work that we had done last November seemed to have made a difference.  The majority of the trees that had problems before now were clearing up.  I found a few stragglers that I took care of, and this time I also took care of the two large trees that were completely strangled with large vines (I sent pics in our report last November).”

“It’s really cool to feel ownership here–that you actually are playing a role in helping your particular trees thrive. We will likely return soon–it’s a wonderful way to power-down for a few hours, while doing some good.”

“It was a great afternoon with my kids! They had a picnic on the BW Creek shoreline, picked up litter and helped with some clipping.  Can’t wait to get back in there to finish up!!”

“No issue — this was a follow-up to get the bigger vines. I took along some bigger tools — axe, chain saw, dynamite, nuclear weapons, whatever to get those devils.”

“Thanks for this effort — the work was very gratifying, especially to see some of the previously cut vines starting to die on the trees. I could feel the trees smiling!”

“Do it! And feel good about the investment of your time — a couple of hours could mean years more for a tree.”

“Great family activity!”