The Irvingdale Neighborhood Association is once again planning our Spring Cleanup at Star City Recycling at 141 Harwood Ct Suite 2 on April 25th. The cleanup will start in the morning, going approximately 9 AM to 12 PM. If you would like a comprehensive list of recyclable items, it can be found HERE. Tires will also be accepted at this event from non-commercial sources. Our organizations reserve the right to refuse service to any commercial drop offs. Some items have additional drop off fees, which can be found in the table below:

 We will be partnering with Indian Village, Everett, and South Salt Creek, but all neighborhoods are welcome! This cleanup is also funded by the Keep Lincoln-Lancaster Beautiful Grant, via the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy.

After a number of discussions with Lincoln Parks and Recreation, and the hiring of a new Southwest District Parks Supervisor, we are pleased to see that action has been taken on the stream channel that goes through Rudge and Irvingdale Parks, also known as Eiseley Creek.

Residents have brought this to the attention of the Association and the city a number of times, and despite efforts by the Association, had limited success in determining how the stream channel needed to be managed. The last cleaning of brush and other matter out of the channel was around 2021, and since then a number of volunteer trees and invasive Tree of Heaven have taken root. The volunteer trees unfortunately presented an issue on bank stability and erosion, and the Tree of Heaven posed a threat due to it’s highly invasive nature and unpleasant smell.

The Parks and Recreation team that worked with the Association proved to be excellent partners in addressing resident concerns. After meeting with the operations director, Shawn Quinn, and the SW Parks Supervisor, Ryan Mohling, we were able to come up with a maintenance plan. This kicked off this summer, when the Parks team provided volunteers a wood chipper and staffing for it to support a volunteer tree removal campaign and treatment of the Tree of Heaven in Rudge Park. Residents learned about proper herbicide application, and received educational material from the Invasive Species Council.

After this event, Parks took off running, consistently working to remove trees and brush for over a month, resulting in the clean and pristine stream channel we are all enjoying today.

We hope to further engage our residents on future management of the stream, and how we can develop this asset for all residents that enjoy it.

The Irvingdale Neighborhood Association would like to invite you to our Annual members’ meeting! At this meeting, we come together to celebrate our neighborhood, share some snacks, and elect our board members for the next year. We will also be having Ryan Mohling, our new parks supervisor, sharing some words about work that has been going on in the parks!

We hope to see you there!

This past Saturday, a group of nearly 10 Irvingdale Neighborhood Association (INA) members, and friends kicked off restoration project on the Rudge Park tributary. Volunteers removed excess shrubbery, saplings, and weeds for almost three hours. in total approximately 111 yards of the 220 were cleared. 

Speaking on the importance of neighbors coming together, Isaac Remboldt, INA Secretary and principle organizer, said, “…the power of neighbors coming together can really amplify our collective voice. People have been bringing up a desire for cleaning up the stream for years now. Getting the city to contribute as well was amazing, and a great precedent to set that residents can have some autonomy and pride in the place they live. Starting small like cleaning a stream for a few hours can expand into addressing larger issues that our communities are facing. We should use our collective resources, labor, and voices to make sure city and community resources are being used to benefit everyone”. 

Of special focus, was the application of herbicide on the hyper-invasive Tree of Heaven species. Before the project started, volunteers were given a short demonstration by a certified herbicide application specialist on how to safely use these products themselves. Attendees also learned about the yearly window of opportunity in applying herbicide to Tree of Heaven when they are in bloom.

Organizers would like to give a special thanks to the 3 Lincoln Parks and Recreation works for showing up on a Saturday to aid the effort. Workers assisted by dragging saplings from the tributary to the wood chipper.

When asked what was next for the project, organizers said they would monitor the success of the herbicide on their morning walks and reevaluate in a few weeks time. Several volunteers said they were willing to come back in a few weeks and finish the clearing. Organizers also said they plan on having a questionnaire to ask citizens what they think about the project, and what should be planted in the cleared space. The group hopes to gather enough volunteers in the future to continue the project along the Irvingdale Park trail where Tree of Heaven has an even greater establishment. 

If you would like to learn more about the project, Organizers will be tabling at INA’s Halloween Bash on October 7at the Irvingdale Rec center from 6 – 8pm.

It has been a long time coming, but the Irvingdale Bylaws Committee has finalized the proposed amendments to the bylaws! The Bylaws committee has spend the last year reviewing the existing bylaws to better reflect the activities of the Association, and make them more accessible to readers. We will be voting on approving the new amendments at our next board meeting, so take this chance to review them!

Proposed Bylaws