Spring has arrived in Grand Junction, which means city parks crews are ramping up maintenance activities to keep grass, plants, and trees healthy throughout the year. While staff have been busy this winter with facility improvement projects, removing trees damaged by pests, and treating rights-of-way to prevent spring weed growth, maintenance priorities shift, and duties expand as the grass begins to grow.
Sprinkler systems are being turned back on for all 35 developed parks, where turf is crucial for sports like soccer and lacrosse, and for more than 500 acres of right-of-way where landscaping enhances the beauty of the community. The city has launched a program to convert turf to native plants in areas where turf is unnecessary or detrimental, such as medians along roadways. Along with turning on irrigation, regular mowing begins and will continue until late fall, requiring diligent coordination by staff. When maintenance equipment is operating in areas where residents or visitors are present, staff will ask individuals to move to another area to safely operate the equipment.
In the second half of April, crews will apply products in parks to control or eliminate Japanese Beetles. These destructive pests begin their life cycle underground in turf as larvae, and once they reach adulthood, they emerge to eat grass and plants. While they pose a significant threat to crops, vineyards, and orchards, they do not harm trees. While city crews focus on public spaces, residents are encouraged to apply pet- and human-safe treatment called GrubEx to their own lawns to help control the beetles. In addition to dealing with pests, city park crews are also combating weeds in public spaces. A systematic weed treatment program was implemented this winter, which will greatly reduce weed growth as Grand Junction enters the growing season.
As warmer weather arrives, city staff have begun rotating the cleaning and monitoring of 13 city park restrooms, including those at Lincoln, Canyon View, Las Colonias, Dos Rios, Sherwood, and Hawthorne parks. Additionally, eight parks—Duckpond, Rocket, Columbine, Westlake, Eagle Rim, Confluence, Tranquillo, and Riverside are open for the reservation/rental of shelters. These parks offer shelters with restroom facilities available for events like graduations, birthday parties, or neighborhood gatherings through an online reservation system on the city website.
While portable restrooms are available throughout the parks and recreation system, the three park restrooms mentioned are not open for drop-in use due to frequent vandalism, which has included the destruction of sinks and toilet fixtures. Reserving these restrooms for scheduled events helps ensure their good condition for park use like shelter rentals and planned programs. In addition to the restrooms available at all drop-in use and park shelter locations, the city, in partnership with Downtown Grand Junction, has also installed a self-cleaning, vandal-resistant restroom in the northeast corner of the parking area between 4th and 5th streets downtown.