PARTNERS
Over our quarter-of-a-century history, we have received help from a number of partner organizations.
These organizations include Boxwood Garden Club and the Tuckahoe Garden Club of Westhampton, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Boy Scout troops, and, most importantly, the City of Richmond Parks and Recreation Department. Some of the contributions of the garden clubs and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay are described in the FOBFNP history timeline and some of the critical help received from the City of Richmond Parks and Recreation Department is described in the description of our habitat restoration projects.
We thank and acknowledge the Virginia Department of Forestry and U.S. Forest Service which has awarded our organization two grants.
As noted in the section in the Habitat Restoration descriptions, in 2023 we received a $3,268 grant from the Virginia Department of Forestry to fund planting additional trees and shrubs in the Pine Grove and Enchanted Forest areas, as well as in the swale. The grant required matching funding from FOBFNP in the form of in-kind volunteer labor hours in planning for, planting, and watering the trees and shrubs.
In 2024 we received a $6,290 grant to undertake a total redesign of our website, with emphasis on invasive species and habitat restoration and educational resources to try to motivate neighbors in the vicinity of the park to adopt some of our practices and values on their properties to expand the habitat for native flora and fauna. Nearly all of the grant money was allocated to hire a contractor to create and implement a complete redesign. Our in-kind contribution was volunteer’s time to generate all new content for the revised website.
In recent years, Boy Scout Troop 799, which later merged into Boy Scout Troop 737 sponsored by St. Mary’s Catholic Church, have completed a number of significant projects in the park.
In 2019, as part of his Eagle Scout project in Troop 799, a Scout built and installed a bench along with performing other service projects at the park.
In the Summer of 2021, Troop 799 undertook the ambitious project of replacing the dilapidated pedestrian bridge over the swale. FOBFNP paid for the $2,400 cost of materials, and members and advisors of Troop 799 constructed the new bridge and then demolished and hauled away the previous bridge.They took responsibility and executed every aspect of the project with great care.
In the Winter of 2022, Troop 737 (into which Troop 799 had merged), undertook a woodworking project to build and install two bluebird houses, two chickadee houses, and an owl house.
In 2024 as a Troop 737 Eagle Scout project, a Scout built three pollinator habitat boxes and installed two in the Pine Grove near the pollinator habitat garden and another near the swamp rose in the swale.
