Pony Pasture looking nicer after another Saturday in the Park cleanup with the Friends of James River Park. About 15 volunteers removed another couple of trailer loads of bush honeysuckle, an invasive species.

The area of the most recent cleanup is very noticable, in a high-traffic area just to the west of the takeout steps. The recent cleanups have been opening much more of the bank to extra vantage points of the granite boulders and rapids.

Betsy Slade, FOJRP president, and Ralph White, park manager, both agreed that this type of invasive species removal had not been done in many years, if ever.

What do you think? This work will continue all the way to Riverside Drive and the small parking area at the rapids. The hope is to continue planting Virginia bluebells and encourage more native plants and species to thrive as we continue to remove more unwanted plants that choke out the good stuff.