GREAT FALLS — A team of volunteers from Woodard & Curran spent some time to help the Sun River Watershed Group clean up some parks in Great Falls on Friday, June 6, 2025.
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With 57 public parks throughout the city of Great Falls, it helps to have volunteers to help maintain them.
“We decided to get with the watershed group and clean up a spot in our community,” said Emily Evans, a project manager with Woodard & Curran.
Evans said Woodard & Curran’s mission aligns with the Sun River Watershed Group in that they are dedicated to water cleanliness and meeting environmental needs.
They spent the morning pulling weeds and picking up trash all around Oddfellows Park.
Tracy Wendt, director of the Sun River Watershed Group, said they always need and greatly appreciate volunteers, so they were excited to get to work with Woodard & Curran on this project.
Wendt said “[Woodard & Curran] asked more about what we do, and they decided they wanted to support us, so they have donated funding and now they’re donating their time.”
“It not only builds community amongst us as colleagues, but also in the place that we live and makes us more invested in the work we do and the people that we are serving and the lives that we're improving,” said Evans.
Each of the parks in Great Falls have invasive species and trash left behind that needs to be cleaned up; however, with 57 parks, that’s a lot for the city to maintain, while short-staffed.
“The parks department has a lot of parks to maintain and take care of, and they're, you know, they're stretched pretty thin. So, we like to do what we can to help,” Wendt added.
The Sun River Watershed Group has several upcoming volunteer opportunities, including more weed pulls to remove the invasive species that are harming local parks.
Evans said they encourage everyone to volunteer.
“It's easy to feel isolated and maybe not as connected to the place that you live, and I think that volunteering and volunteerism is just a really incredible way to connect with your community, to meet people and to give back,” said Evans.
For anyone interested in volunteering with future cleanup efforts, you can reach out to the Sun River Watershed Group.
