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Celebrate with shovels, gloves and smiles
By Chris Fitzgerald
KP News
April 22 offers multiple opportunities to
recognize the beauty of the Key Peninsula in tangible
ways that illustrate civic pride and good stewardship.
It was on April 22, 1970 that
founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from
Wisconsin, created Earth
Day, the first nationwide environmental protest to force
this issue onto the national agenda. At the time, leaded
gas was the norm. Industry belched out smoke and sludge
with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air
pollution was accepted as the price of prosperity. Earth
Day 1970 saw 20 million Americans parading in the
streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a
healthy, sustainable environment. Groups that had been
fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and
power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides,
freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of
wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
Earth Day led to the creation of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the
Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.
The idea for Arbor Day originally
came from J. Sterling Morton, born April 22, 1832, who
was a journalist and editor of Nebraska’s first
newspaper. He and his wife loved nature, and he used his
position to share his enthusiasm for trees to an equally
enthusiastic audience. During the 1870s, other states
passed legislation to observe Arbor Day, and the
tradition began in schools nationwide in 1882. Arbor Day
has now spread beyond the United States and is observed
in many countries of the world.
Arbor Day festivities on the Key
Peninsula and surrounding area include the planting of
1,000 western hemlock seedlings by students from all the
schools in the Peninsula School District. These
“official” state trees are provided by the Gig
Harbor/Key Peninsula Arbor Day Foundation. This group,
consisting of four dedicated environmentalists, also
sponsors district-wide student essay, photo, poster, and
poetry contests, with prizes and awards to be presented
at the April 22 Arbor Day celebration at the Gig Harbor
Civic Center (City Hall), on Grandview St., from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m. A raffle, with proceeds to benefit the
foundation, will run throughout the day.
Nancy Lind, a Key Peninsula
resident, was the recipient of the Foundation’s annual
Good Stewardship award in 2005. She is tireless in her
work to save wildlands and open spaces on the Key
Peninsula and was key in saving Rocky Creek Conservation
area. Call Carol Alex at 858-8797 or go to
www.gigharbor.com for more information.
Scott Gallacher, KP Metro Parks,
invites all citizens to celebrate National Parks Week on
Arbor/Earth Day, April 22, from 9 a.m. to noon at either
of two locations. A group will meet at the Rocky Creek
Conservation area for trail clean-up, brush-cutting, and
removal; and at the Purdy Spit for general clean-up.
Gallacher says if enough community resources are
available, the Home Park may also be included. “This is
a great opportunity for people to come out and
participate,” he said. National Parks Week clean-up is a
major county-wide effort with nearly 2,000 other people
working in their local parks at the same time.
For individuals or families,
there’s no need to pre-register — just show up and start
working. Bring your work gloves and small tools if you
have them — just be sure to label them. For more
information, call Gallacher at 884-9240 or visit
www.parksappreciationday.net.
©Copyright 2005-2008, Key Peninsula
News, all rights reserved.
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