By Madelyn Slattery
Volunteers from the area donned their best overalls and gardening gloves to clean up the environment recently as part of the 2025 Spring Community Clean Up.
Coming from Rye, Rye Brook, Port Chester, and Rye Neck, the volunteers gathered at various locations and got to work. In Rye, volunteers converged on the Rye Nature Center to assist Rye High School senior Ella Froah, who has been working on a yearlong project creating a pollinator garden there.
In the process, they worked with Tracy Stora, chairwoman of Rye’s Conservation Commission/Advisory Council, and Rye Nature Center Conservation Director Jax Mack. The event was organized by the CC/AC and Rye Sustainability Committee.
Stora explained that the Town of Rye had “been organizing this since around 2021, celebrating Earth Day by cleaning in our communities.” For this year’s cleanup, the Rye community gathered to help Froah plant pollinators that provide food and remove invasive plants.
The day’s activities contributed to Froah’s Monarch project, which she started last year to plant native plants that are needed by endangered monarch butterflies. “We raised about $1,000, and then we planted over 300 native plants,” Froah said.
With gloves on and bug spray applied, volunteers got to digging. Most were Rye High School seniors helping their friend with a project she was passionate about. But a special guest appeared to get his hands dirty: State Assemblyman and Rye local Steve Otis (Froah is working with him for her Rye High School senior internship).
Froah said as part of her commitment to the project, she had pledged to do three things: spread awareness about the importance of Monarch butterflies, plant the garden, and maintain the garden. As she did last year, Froah raised $1,000, which she used to buy and plant more native plants.
“Native plants are beneficial for the ecosystem, while non-native plants do not provide a food source,” Stora explained. “When you use a native plant, you’re helping the ecosystem.”
Those benefits go beyond the Nature Center; the healthiest yards have plants that are native to the area, and natives also reduce the need for fertilizers or pesticides.
This year’s Spring Cleanup was an effort to unite community members while celebrating and improving the environment. It also promoted the strengthening of the Rye Nature Center’s ecosystem while supporting Froah’s research.
