If you have been out to ROCK within the last few months and taken a look at our Sensory Trail, you may have noticed that it has been in differing stages of remodel. The volunteer who started and has been leading this project is Phyllis Popplewell. Phyllis started this project back in September of 2024 and has been working steadily on it ever since. She has been volunteering at ROCK since September of 2021 and believed that she could transform the Sensory Trail into a place that our participants and staff could see as a sanctuary.
If you have never met Phyllis Popplewell, let me describe her to you. She is a joyful woman who is full of purpose to help those around her and has the most amazing green thumb. Phyllis is the first to pick up the shovel and the last to put it down. She has a comforting, inviting presence and really comes to life when talking about the local wildlife.
When Phyllis started volunteering during one of our instructors’ classes, she noticed every time they went to the Sensory Trail that the plants and landscaping could use some love and attention. Coming from a background of working outdoors and having a Master Naturalist Certification, Phyllis saw the potential for what our Sensory Trail could become.
Along with Sidney Garrison, our Facilities Manager, Phyllis put together a plan of action for how to bring this outdoor sanctuary back to life. Phyllis joined the running for a grant from the Native Plants Society and was rewarded $600 to use on native plants to put in the Sensory Trail. Since then, Phyllis has been redoing all the garden beds; replacing the mulch and planting new plants, like milkweed. With the project going on at the road, Sidney has also relocated several trees into the Sensory Trail.
With the new plants and trees, more wildlife has shown an interest in this renewed sanctuary. Phyllis noticed a few weeks ago that there were some special guests camping out on her milkweed plants! Monarch butterfly caterpillars were getting ready to form cocoons and become butterflies. The butterflies were an addition to the other wildlife visitors that frequent the garden alongside birds, rabbits, bees, and other insects. Seeing all the wildlife start to congregate in this new beautiful area made Phyllis proud of her work, “It’s working, I love it when a plan comes together.” Wanting to protect the environment she’s been fostering, Phyllis applied and had ROCK’s Sensory Trail become an official Certified Wildlife Habitat as well as a Monarch Butterfly Habitat.
Other additions made for the wildlife include nesting boxes, bird feeders, an insect house for bees and butterflies, and a handmade bird bath donated by Janelle Dooley, another ROCKateer.
When asked about what her hopes were for when the Sensory Trail reopens to participants, Phyllis stated “I hope that the participants seeing all the native plants and wildlife on the trail may spark an interest in learning more about our local environment.”
We are so grateful to Phyllis for all the life she has breathed into this project that has not only helped us, but also the local wildlife. Thank you to Phyllis Popplewell for being such a wonderful person with such upstanding character and integrity. We can’t wait to see how the Sensory Trail continues to grow and flourish!
