Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By NATHAN HOWELL | Staff Writer

HELENA – The Helena Beautification Board and around 40 volunteers plan to come together March 13 to help spruce up areas around town including Old Town Helena and Helena City Hall.

Helena City Councilman Chris VanCleave, who is the council liaison for the board, said that this is an annual event that is designed to clean up some of the plant life after winter is over and to improve resources within the city.

“It is always our goal to be good stewards of the environment and also for the resources that we have within the city,” VanCleave said. “These types of efforts bring people together to accomplish that goal and the overall goal of making the city more beautiful.”

For this particular cleanup, volunteers will be sprucing up plant beds, trimming shrubs and doing other general cleanup throughout the town.

“It is a general cleanup in Old Town Helena where we will be cutting back shrubs and pruning roses, and weeding the planting beds,” VanCleave explained. “We will also be doing maintenance at city hall, and the Rose Trial site at the sports complex.”

Aside from the obvious benefit of helping to maintain the city’s resources, the cleanup days are especially beneficial for students as well.

“We get a lot of high school students, because this counts towards their community service hours,” VanCleave said. “Many of them have never been exposed to horticulture or even the natural world around them. They get up close and personal with plants and get some hands-on education that will never go away.”

The board typically holds two cleanup events throughout the year, one for spring and one for fall. VanCleave said that the fall cleanup had one of the largest turnouts that they have had, and anticipates that this spring cleanup will draw around 40 or more volunteers to help spruce up the city.

Volunteers will meet at the Caboose Welcome Center and will be out working on these projects throughout the day from 8 a.m. until noon.

More information about the Helena Beautification Board’s projects can be found on the Helena Beautiful Facebook page.