[Durham INC] Durham Honors Arbor Day March 19

[Blalock, Amy]

City of Durham

Keep Durham Beautiful

 

Joint News Release

 

For Immediate Release: March 16, 2011

For Details, Contact:

Amy Blalock

Sr. Public Affairs Specialist, City of Durham

(919) 560-4123, ext. 11253

 

Dorothea Pierce

Executive Director, Keep Durham Beautiful, Inc.

(919) 354-2729

  <http://www.keepdurhambeautiful.org/> 

 

Durham Honors Arbor Day March 19 

Day of Free Family Activities at Sandy Creek Park Culminates with Tree
Plantings

 

DURHAM, N.C. - Residents looking for a fun way to spend a warm, sunny
Saturday should mark their calendars now to join the City of Durham as
it celebrates Arbor Day and kicks off this year's 3rd Annual Creek Week.

 

On Saturday, March 19, 2011, from 8 a.m.to 1 p.m., at the Sandy Creek
Park, residents can join the City of Durham's Urban Forestry Division,
Durham Parks and Recreation, and the Durham Tree Alliance, a program of
Keep Durham Beautiful, Inc., for a day of outdoor environmental
activities focusing on trees and the wildlife that depend on them. 

 

Saturday's event is being held as part of the 3rd Annual Creek Week,
taking place March 19-26, and volunteers are still needed to help plant
trees at the Sandy Creek Park on Saturday. Sandy Creek Park is located
at the end of Sandy Creek Road, which turns off of Pickett Road just
east of U.S. Highway 15/501. All Durham Arbor Day events at Sandy Creek
Park are free and open to the public. 

 

According to Alex Johnson, urban forestry manager with the City's Urban
Forestry Division, Durham's Arbor Day celebration is designed to
encourage residents to appreciate, plant, and care for trees. "The
importance of trees in urban areas cannot be overstated. They buffer
noise and light pollution, create cool and inviting spaces, reduce our
need for energy while cleaning the air, removing carbon, and producing
oxygen. Trees help us with our soil erosion and stormwater runoff and
nutrient load problems. They also provide critical habitats and foster
biodiversity in otherwise inhospitable environments, and they are the
only piece of 'infrastructure' that gains in value over time, giving us
back in benefits many times over their cost of installation." Johnson
said. "This Saturday's program is full of activities for the young and
the young at heart. We'll have bird and butterfly walks, a park cleanup,
water quality testing demonstrations, a butterfly garden planting, and
tree plantings. If you love Durham and want something fun and
educational for the whole family, then Saturday is the day for you."

 

According to Johnson, bird and butterfly walks will begin at 8 a.m. and
continue throughout the day. A park cleanup will take place from 9
a.m.-11 a.m. to allow residents to help beautify the area while
educational activities for youth ages 5-10 take place from 10 a.m.-1
p.m. Adults can also learn how to take water quality testing samples and
help plant a butterfly garden from 10 a.m.-11a.m. Arbor Day concludes
with remarks from Mayor William V. "Bill' Bell along with other public
officials followed by the tree plantings at noon. Free tree seedlings,
provided courtesy of Duke University, will also be available for
attendees to take home and plant in their own yards.  Entertainment will
be provided by the Suzuki Talent Education at Durham (STEAD), a group of
young violinists from Durham Public Schools.

 

According to Dorothea Pierce, executive director of Keep Durham
Beautiful, the nonprofit's new Durham Tree Alliance wants to make tree
plantings, such as the one planned for Saturday, a possibility for other
areas around Durham. "The Durham Tree Alliance is a newly formed
association and our goal is to make it possible for residents to
identify areas that need trees and then help make the funding possible
to plant those new trees to enhance and beautify Durham's natural
environment," Pierce said. 

 

Durham's Arbor Day kicks off Creek Week, a collaboration of local and
state governments as well as nonprofit organizations that manage,
monitor, and protect area waterways including the City of Durham, Durham
County, Eno River Association, North Carolina State Parks, Haw River
Assembly, Frog Hollow Outdoors, Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association,
Keep Durham Beautiful, Northeast Creek Stream Watch, and New Hope Creek
Stream Watch.

 

For a detailed schedule of events on Durham's Arbor Day Celebration or
Creek Week, visit www.DurhamCreekWeek.org
<http://www.durhamcreekweek.org/>  or contact Abigail Ferrance-Wu at
(919) 560-4326, ext. 30295 or by e-mail at 
Abigail.Ferrance-Wu at DurhamNC.gov.

 

###

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110316/4a23d21c/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image005.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2932 bytes
Desc: image005.jpg
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110316/4a23d21c/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2534 bytes
Desc: image006.jpg
URL: <http://rtpnet.org/pipermail/inc-list/attachments/20110316/4a23d21c/attachment-0001.jpg>