Julie Davis
jdavis@cherryroad.com
The Friends of Nebraska City Riverview Nature Park has a three-phase plan for revitalizing the park.
Briana Graham, organization president, and Patty Coates, organization secretary, visited the Nebraska City Rotary Club June 11 to provide members with the park’s history and the group’s plans for its future.
Graham said the park was sold to the City of Nebraska City in 1934, and by 1938, improvements were being made under the Federal Emergency Relief Act, the National Youth Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Works Progress Administration federal employment programs enacted during the Great Depression.
She said that visitors were once able to drive through the park, but vehicle traffic is no longer allowed after the park was the site of several accidents.
Friends of Nebraska City Riverview Nature Park was recently granted permission to manage the 32.8-acre park by the Nebraska City City Council. The organization is working with the Nebraska Forest Service, the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, and the Nemaha County Natural Resources District to implement its revitalization plan.
Graham said the organization has “fantastic state, regional, and local resources,” adding that it has secured funding for some of its projects from the Kimmel Foundation.
The first phase of the plan involves upgrading the park’s trail system, which Graham said is underway. She added that the organization is considering cutting a path through a 200-year-old tree that fell on one of the trails so hikers can count its growth rings.
The second phase of the plan involves eradicating invasive plant species, such as the tree of heaven and the Amur honeysuckle. Graham said it’s easier to remove the honeysuckle than the tree of heaven, but the state forestry department has devised a plan for the Missouri River Basin that they will implement in the park.
The plan involves applying a systemic herbicide to kill the tree before cutting it down, said Graham. If the herbicide is not applied, she said, the tree will send out root suckers that produce new trees.
The final phase of the park’s revitalization will see native and beneficial plants being returned and added to the landscape.
Graham said it’s important to provide plants and trees that help feed resident and migratory wildlife because right now, the wildlife consumes all the seeds and nuts dropped by the park’s plant life so no natural regrowth is occurring.
To learn more about the organization, follow “Riverview Nature Park” on Facebook.
Friends of Nebraska City Riverview Nature Park is hosting a fund-raising pickleball tournament during the upcoming Treestock Festival July 4 though 6. Signup information is available on the Riverview Nature Park Facebook page.
