Raymond Yin

Sunny clear crisp cool weather, moist loose soil, good company, easy work – good way to spend a morning outdoors.

Performing environmentally virtuous tasks without a clear goal seems pointless.

Better to nurture a volunteer force with visible progress on meaningful work. A small volunteer workforce can be very effective on an essential task.

Essential task being the work necessary to achieving a clearly defined objective.

Different objectives will define different tasks to be essential.

For example, if the objective for Blunn Preserve were to create a vast forestland, the essential task would be the planting and nurturing of trees in the clearings already created by earlier work of removing non-native trees and shrubs.

Alternatively, if greater public access and use were the objective, the essential task would be the creation of a path through the tract. This path would be located to access areas suitable for for compatible low-impact activities and reveal views. The path should also be located to avoid areas with more fragile features.