La Grande Volunteer Event for National Public Lands Day on September 24
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, August 19th, 2022 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
La Grande (Release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture) The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest (WWNF) and the Grande Ronde Model Watershed (GRMW) invite the community to join them in celebrating National Public Lands Day (NPLD) on September 24.
In the spirit of celebrating and supporting the gifts of our watershed, GRMW and WWNF are hosting Public Lands Day at Bird Track Springs Restoration Site along the Grande Ronde River, just minutes from La Grande, Oregon. NPLD is celebrated annually across the nation on the fourth Saturday of September. Started by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), NPLD is the nation’s largest single-day volunteer event for public lands, which include city parks to national parks and forests.
The Grande Ronde subbasin is a tributary to the Snake River and part of the Columbia River basin. The watershed sustains thousands of acres of forested and canyon lands throughout Northeast Oregon on public and private property and is home to spring Chinook salmon, summer steelhead, bull trout, resident trout, and other native fish species along with elk, deer, river otters, great gray owls, goshawks, bald eagles, and many other wildlife species.
The long-term restoration vision for the Bird Track Springs Fish Habitat Enhancement Project is to improve physical and ecological processes by rehabilitating and restoring the river channel and floodplain to achieve immediate and long-term benefits to chinook, steelhead, and bull trout at all life stages.
The event will take place on National Public Lands Day, Saturday, September 24th, 2022, from 9 a.m. till to 1 p.m. The public is invited to engage in hands-on projects including trail maintenance, monitoring water quality, trash removal, and art and storytelling activities.
Free Transportation is available. A bus will depart at 8:30 am from EOU Football Field Parking Lot for Bird Track Springs. The bus will return at 1:00 pm from Bird Track Springs Trail to the EOU Football Field Parking Lot.
More information can be found on the event’s webpage on the NEEF website.
In collaboration with the Art Center East Community Storytelling Project, the event will host an opportunity for community members to record an interview with each other using the StoryCorps model. The storytelling team will come with questions participants can ask one another, or they can ask their own questions or share a story. Individuals and groups are invited as part of the RSVP process to make an appointment for a storytelling slot. There may be additional slots available at the event. Storytellers are encouraged to tell stories with friends, co-workers, and family members.
Event organizers include the WWNF, GRMW, RedTwig Education, Art Center East, and the Greater Hells Canyon Council.
To RSVP, please fill out the form at: https://tinyurl.com/granderondeNPLD. A limited number of lunches will be provided for volunteers who RSVP and choose their lunch options.
Not able to make it to La Grande this year? Find more information about events near you by visiting https://www.neefusa.org/event-locator.
