Cleanup continues two years after storm
The forest area of Bowles Parkland was severely damaged in 2022 derecho
Rosemount Memorial Gardens announced recently it has, and will continue, cleanup efforts of the Bowles Parkland after the structural stability of the forest was compromised by the derecho windstorm that occurred on May 21, 2022.
RMG has taken on the responsibility of stewardship for the land since Albert Bowles gifted a portion to the company in 1972. Recent cleanup efforts began on Jan. 24, explained Sean Peters, branch manager of RMG.
“We agreed (to) maintain the parkland to this natural state and that we’d keep the parkland cleared of any underbrush and fallen trees, etc.,” he said.
“And what transpired, when we had that big windstorm, was sustained damage throughout the forest from the northwest corner to the southeast corner.”
The windstorm uprooted trees, causing them to crash into other healthy ones, explained Peters.
“It had just literally become an absolute mess in the forest itself and become unsafe for anybody to be able to walk through,” he said, pointing to “the hanging branches and trees that could fall at any time.”
The hope is this cleanup will allow the forest to rejuvenate and regenerate, stated Peters. But, he added, it will be an ongoing effort that must be approached carefully to avoid further damage, which has been made more difficult with the on-again-off-again frost this season.
“The process was slowed down due to the frost coming in and out. So, we got started on Jan. 24 and then we got shut down for about eight or 10 days in February, when things warmed up and they couldn’t really run the machinery through there,” he said.
“We’re trying to work as quickly as
“It had just literally become an absolute mess in the forest itself and become unsafe for anybody to be able to walk through.
SEAN PETERS ROSEMOUNT MEMORIAL GARDENS
we possibly can, but we’re also trying to do it with as minimal impact as possible.”
The heavy machinery work to remove toppled trees and others affected by ash rot has since been completed, stated Rachael Gallant, account co-ordinator at Proof Strategies Inc., in a news release.
“This is the start of the efforts, and they expect to continue to work on this in the years to come,” she stated.
Peters noted the cost of the project is irrelevant, as RMG has a duty to the land gifted to them by Bowles.
“It’s things that we have to look after, it’s things that we’ve agreed to look after and it’s things we’ve agreed to maintain at our cost,” he said.
“We’re kind of waiting for the area to dry up a little bit so that we can get back in there again. We’ll be doing some more stuff again later on in the summer.”