Belle Isle Park was one of several areas hit by storms with heavy rainfall and high winds on Thursday, Sept. 3, and officials have asked the public for help with cleanup efforts.
Like many areas across the city and state, the park took a hit with downed trees, branches and shrubs, which state crews will handle. The Belle Isle Conservancy in a social media video post on Sept. 3 asked volunteers to meet at the Belle Isle Aquarium at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 4 to help with the storm's aftermath, showing scattered branches, parking bollards and debris along the streets. Due to the storm, the effort has been delayed to 1 p.m., according to the conservancy.
Sareen Papakhian, the urban district park supervisor for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources,
said the roads have been cleared on Belle Isle, and volunteers will work with her staff and the conservancy to collect loose brush and pieces of tree limbs that have fallen and placing them on an area of the island for state crews to later clean up. Volunteers are not required to have a state park passport for the cleanup.
"It looks like a tornado hit Belle Isle, that will be confirmed by the (National) Weather Service, I believe, who will be out out to the island later today," Papakhian said, adding that she was not given a time.
It is not unusual for the DNR to have volunteers help with cleanup efforts. Papakhian said throughout the year, the department has volunteers help with similar efforts to the Belle Isle storm cleanup, or general trash cleanup across the island, including the beach.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Belle Isle, DNR plan volunteer cleanup effort from storm damage
