Helping to keep HSSP beautiful

Hot Springs State Park (HSSP) is looking for volunteers to help out in their landscaping and gardening.

Red Dirt Master Gardener Kelly Strampe described their situation and said, "We just have beautiful flowers and it's wonderful because both the locals and the tourists can enjoy the park. People come back every year and they're looking to see what's been done. And, certainly in the last few years, volunteers have just been really crucial because they just do not have the number of the staff that they actually have had in the past. They used to have their horticulturist who grew all the flowers for the state parks. We are reaching out and seeing if we can get people to help volunteer. We'd always like more volunteers, because it is a big job."

According to Strampe, HSSP has "five full-time state park workers at one time. But about 20 years ago there were about four times that amount of workers. Also, in the past, working in the state park was an attractive job for high schoolers. Now it is difficult to find seasonal workers."

Strampe added, "One of the things that's really different this year is that Tom Judy has worked, incorporating more perennials. Perennials are the flowers that come back every year. Annual flowers die at the end of each year and have to be replanted again the next year."

Tom Judy is a well-experienced landscape designer as well as an interior designer.

Judy said, "Last year I told the new superintendent Chris Delay, 'I think we need to incorporate more perennials into the flower beds' and he agreed. It's going to be at least a two or three-year process to get the perennials that we want in the flower beds."

Judy and the volunteers involved have a strong vision for designing the annuals and perennials for the park. Part of their design is to have a cascade of flowers at various displays. Also, regarding their efforts in planting the flowers in the HSSP, there was a fundraiser for compost, which they did through the Red Dirt Master Gardener organization. Judy also contributed personally to pay for additional compost. The compost is needed due to the natural clay soil in the park and it doesn't work well for the flowers.

Judy said, "I love the community. I just want to help the community to look better when people come through."

Hot Springs State Park does not charge an entrance fee and does not have camping sites for generating revenue. However, the park is the most visited state park in Wyoming and is called the "crown jewel" by many for generations.

It features the hot springs terraces and the Big Springs, mineral swimming pools, the State Bath House, the buffalo pasture and vast green lawns with tall trees and countless flowers. State park employees and volunteers work hard together to keep the park in its beautiful condition.