Celebrating our home: Earth
Local people do their part to take note of Earth Day through various projects from trail clean-ups to tree planting and raising money for environmental education
Russell Bassett plants a tree as part of the SOLV-IT Earth Day project in the Molalla River Corridor on Saturday.
April 22, 2009
Earth Day is April 22, but several local groups celebrated early with events last weekend.
Molalla RiverWatch hosted a SOLV-IT event on Saturday in the Molalla River Corridor with volunteers clearing branches and debris from trails and planting trees provided by the Bureau of Land Management.
At Colton Middle School, Cub Scout Pack No. 274 planted 500 Willamette Valley ponderosa and Douglas fir trees on Saturday.
“This is part of the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Great Oregon Tree Plant,” Cub Pack Master Damon Schrosk said.
On Sunday, Molalla High School’s environmental club, The Green Team, hosted Greenstock, a fundraiser music festival in Clark Park.
The festival featured a variety of bands from Portland including The Hugs and Jared Mees and the Grown Children, plus some local talent.
In spite of delays due to some of the bands getting stuck in Woodburn Tulip Festival traffic, Environmental Club vice president Ethan McClelland said the event turned out to be a success. He estimated that the club raised about $1,000 from raffle ticket sales and donations. The funds will go toward future Green Team projects, such as recycling efforts and river clean-up work. They plan to continue the festival next year.
Although it was a busy weekend for Earth Day events, the opportunities for local participation aren’t over. Molalla Weed & Seed is organizing a Spring Cleaning for the town on April 25 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Molalla Rotary, Grace Lutheran Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Molalla Church of the Nazarene and Foothills Community Church have already volunteered assistance and any other groups or individuals in the community are also invited to lend a hand, Beth Faulhaber of Weed & Seed said.
One group will be sent to work on trail restoration at Camp Onahlee, but the rest will canvas the town picking up litter.
Faulhaber said they also need volunteers with pickup trucks willing to collect full trash bags and drop them off at the dumpsters that will be located at Molalla High School.
Volunteers will meet at 9 a.m. at Molalla High School’s southeast parking lot. They will be provided with garbage bags and gloves.
To sign up, call 503-759-3678 or e-mail mws@palkids.org.