Chris DeLong has volunteered for the last decade in Kansas City, Missouri parks, first building trails with ERTA in Swope Park and for the last three years offering his time and talents in midtown’s Roanoke Park.
As a Roanoke Park Conservancy volunteer, Chris has worked on honeysuckle eradication, trail building, and reforesting, as well as managing the group’s website and social media.
Chris led the effort to win two grants from the Missouri Department of Conservation for Roanoke Park. Through the TRIM Grant, the park’s 2,100 biggest trees have been assessed with the results recorded in an interactive website. Chris is currently assisting on the effort to improve the natural habitat of the Coleman Spring area through a second MDC grant that he secured for the Roanoke Park Conservancy.
Chris is an avid camper and outdoor enthusiast. Some noteworthy experiences: Bike Ride through Kansas, Honeymoon Hiking the Grand Canyon, Family Camping in Carolinas, Arkansas, Michigan, Yellowstone, Minnesota, England, Badlands, New York, to name a few.
Chris has been both a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader for ten years, and has served as the Camp Master who plans his Troop’s 10-day experience at summer camp.
Whether hiking or camping he gives everyone a lesson on not only the common name but the science name of the plants on the hike. He knows which ones are poisonous at sight and offers you a taste if it’s not. In fact, he recently was found picking berries off a neighbors tree (totally edible he declared to the group!).
When he is not volunteering in his community, Chris can be found at home with his spouse in the Waldo neighborhood planting native plants in his own home garden.