The special events Web site at www.fws.gov/refuges/SpecialEvents/FWS_SpecialEvents_Search.cfm has additional locations, and to find a specific refuge, visit the locator map at www.fws.gov.
Wherever Americans go outdoors to explore, hike, fish, paddle, jog or just enjoy nature, that location is likely to be a candidate for a National Public Lands Day event,” said Robb Hampton, director of National Public Lands Day, a program of the National Environmental Education Foundation. “For 2009, we have a special focus on the connection water has on our public lands.”
Planting vegetation and trees near bodies of water can help improve water quality in many ways. Trees remove pollutants and carbon dioxide from the air. When trees and shrubs are planted as a “buffer zone” along the edges of rivers and streams, they are effective in reducing the amount of polluting runoff that would otherwise end up in those bodies of water. Just one tree can eliminate 4,000 gallons of runoff annually.
National Public Lands Day is now the nation’s largest hands-on volunteer effort to enhance the public lands that all Americans enjoy. Last year, more than 120,000 volunteers planted an estimated 1.6 million trees, fixed hundreds of miles of hiking trails and removed trash at nearly 1,900 sites.
National Public Lands Day partners include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of Defense, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, U.S. Invasive Species Council, over 30 states, numerous local agencies and nonprofit groups, such as the National Parks Conservation Association, International Mountain Bicycling Association, Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the USA. Community members can find an National Public Lands Day site in their area or register a location of their own at www.neefusa.org.
