PPL Montana volunteers lead weed pulling event

How many weeds do you pull during a typical day in the garden?
 
Led by employees from PPL Montana, a crew of 36 volunteers celebrated National Get Outdoors Day earlier this month by pulling 1,500 pounds of weeds in a ravine below PPL Montana’s Rainbow Dam along the River’s Edge Trail that wanders through the Great Falls area.

PPL Montana supplied lunch for the volunteers.

“Sometimes you just have to get in and yank weeds from steep areas — places where the weed whackers can’t reach,” said Rodney Caldwell, an electrician and mechanic at the dam. “Knapweed, a creeping, invasive weed, was our main target.

“It was a lot of work, but it was a great way to spend time on a worthwhile outdoors project with our community partners in Great Falls,” he said.
 
Volunteers from PPL Montana; the U.S. Forest Service; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Cascade County; and the River’s Edge Trail organization joined the weed-pulling effort.

Supported by federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and the recreation industry, National Get Outdoors Day is a new event planned once a year to encourage healthy, active outdoor fun.