The Royal Shenandoah Greenway is Looking Even Greener and Cleaner

For those that aren’t yet familiar, the Royal Shenandoah Greenway in Front Royal is a tremendous asset to our community and visitors alike. This 5-mile trail creates a recreational loop around town, highlighting some of Front Royal’s incredible attributes, including Happy Creek and its Arboretum, Samuels Public Library, Main Street, a handful of local parks and playgrounds, the south branch of the Shenandoah River, the northern terminus of Shenandoah National Park, and so much more! You can read more about the creation of the greenway, as well as the collaborative efforts by so many to see it come to fruition, here: treesfrontroyal.org/royal-shenandoah-greenway.

But the Royal Shenandoah Greenway is not a static feature. It takes a lot of effort to maintain the trail, its signage, and its beauty. There are also ongoing efforts to continue improving the greenway experience. On Saturday, December 9th, one such effort was undertaken by a big handful of local civic groups and community volunteers. Members of Front Royal’s Advisory Committee for Environmental Sustainability (ACES), the Front Royal / Warren County Tree Stewards, the Beautification Committee of Front Royal, the Front Royal / Warren County Anti-Litter Council, and Randolph-Macon Academy’s Spiritual Life Committee, all came together to improve the section of greenway that runs adjacent to Royal Plaza and Rural King. 

The Tree Stewards took advantage of the great volunteer turnout to give some impromptu planting and pruning lessons.

Previously, this area has seen large improvement from the addition of a split-rail fence that also acts as a litter barrier, helping keep any wind-blown trash from the Royal Plaza parking lot from entering Happy Creek. That fence is working very well, and you can read more about that effort here. This time around, along that same fence, volunteers planted three Sweetbay Magnolias, a native tree species known for its fragrant, creamy-white flowers, as well as five Oakleaf Hydrangeas, a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub that showcases long-lasting blooms. Combined with the Crape Myrtle plantings just a bit further along the greenway that were planted last year (read more here), this entire stretch of the greenway will now be a “green tunnel” for walkers, joggers, and cyclists to enjoy! However, the greening up effort involved more than just planting; volunteers also set off with litter picker-uppers to clean up the entire stretch of Happy Creek and its riparian buffer from South Street to Rural King. The result was six full bags of trash that will no longer jeopardize the watershed. 

10-foot tall Sweetbay Magnolias aren’t easy to move around, but volunteers managed to work out a plan for getting these trees safely into the ground.

The new Sweetbay Magnolias and Oakleaf Hydrangeas are dormant for the winter, but just wait until they start to leaf-out in the Spring!

The civic groups and volunteers would like to extend an additional thank you to the following:

• To the Front Royal Department of Public Works for helping auger the tree holes (making it so much easier to plant such large trees).
• To Rural King management, who came out to thank the volunteers personally, while also gifting four large bags of popcorn for everyone to enjoy!
• To Royal Plaza management for their collaboration on all of the aforementioned projects along this section of greenway. 
• And to Chaplain Monica Reynolds and the R-MA students that brought so much positive, young energy to the morning.

Chaplain Monica Reynolds and R-MA students take a moment to pose and catch their breath after some serious litter removal from the banks of Happy Creek.

This project was made possible with grant funding from Virginia Department of Forestry’s VA Trees for Clean Water program. 

There are so many great opportunities to get involved with positive, high-impact projects in and around Front Royal, and to meet and befriend community members that are passionate about making positive change. Don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the groups mentioned here to get involved!