| |
Earth Day 2005
2005 NRCS Earth Day Photo Features
For Earth Day photos in your area, click on a state below.
Barios Farm Restored Wetlands Reserve Program
(WRP)
NRCS in California recognized Earth Day this year by celebrating
the President’s wetlands initiative and cooperative conservation on private
lands. USDA Under Secretary Mark Rey joined NRCS employees, local conservation
partners, and landowners at the Barios farm restored WRP site in Yolo County for
the celebration.
Mark Rey delivers
remarks in front of a wood duck box created and installed by high school
students from the Student Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship
Program |
Back to top
Kids in the Creek
NRCS participated in a local Earth Day event,
Kids in the Creek where fourth through eighth
grade students from Redding California's Chrysalis, Mistletoe, and Shasta Meadows schools
got a valuable opportunity to learn by doing in a dynamic outdoor laboratory
along Clear Creek. The $9 million, multi-phased Lower Creek Restoration Project,
reversing the negative impact of past mining and gravel extraction, is a
cooperative effort led by the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District in
cooperation with NRCS and other partners.
Elementary school
student viewing a mayfly nymph through a microscope at the Creek Critters
station. More than 90 students moved through five stations demonstrating different aspects of area ecology. NRCS provided a Soil
Science station, staffed by Earth Team volunteer Denise Lerner and soil
conservation technician Erik Kennedy from the Redding Service Center
|
Back to top
Colorado Governor Bill
Owens, (second from left) interacts with the first through fifth grade
students at Carson Elementary who won this year's 2005 Denver Public Schools
Earth Day Elementary School of the Year contest. Colorado State
Conservationist, Allen Green (far left). Colorado Commissioner of
Agriculture, Don Ament (far right). The award presentation was the result of
a contest developed by the USDA Earth Day Coalition, consisting of
representatives from NRCS, Jefferson Conservation District, Colorado
Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, and Farm Service Agency. |
Back to top
Lael Houston's
first-place Earth Day poster. Lael, a 4th grader at North Dover Elementary
School, participates in an NRCS outdoor conservation classroom. The poster
contest was part of an outdoor conservation classroom activity. |
Back to top
Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and
Environment, Courtenay McCormick speaks at an Earth Day Celebration at
Broadmoor Marsh Wetlands Reserve Program site in Brevard County, Florida |
Back to top
Earth Day 2005 was celebrated by Katherine Gugulis,
(r.) NRCS, Deputy Chief for Strategic Planning and Accountability by helping
plant sea oats on rebuilt sand dunes at Okaloosa Island in Ft. Walton Beach,
Florida, along with Walker Elementary School’s 5th graders, parents, and
NRCS Earth Team volunteers. Hurricane Ivan had caused many miles of
protected barriers to erode from its fierce storm surge.
|
Back to top
Storm Drain Stenciling at Ada Hayden Heritage
Park
Merlin Bartz, NRCS Regional Assistant Chief-Central and fourth graders from St.
Cecilia Catholic School commemorate Earth Day by using storm drain stencils
to remind people that what goes into a storm drain can end up in their
drinking water. The group gathered at the Ada Hayden Heritage Park to celebrate Earth Day. The watershed surrounding the park is 2,456 acres of
urban and farm land that drains into the park's lake which is part of the
City of Aimes'
water supply.
Merlin Bartz, (back center) NRCS Regional Assistant
Chief-Central and fourth graders from St. Cecilia Catholic
School |
Back to top
Paul Hines Farm Wetland Restoration
An Earth Day Wetlands Reserve Program wetland restoration
project on the Paul Hines farm in Butler County, Kentucky and the NRCS 70th anniversary were celebrated on April 22.
l. NRCS Associate Chief
Dana York looks on as members of the Nature Conservancy erect a bat box on
the site of the Butler County, Kentucky, wetland restoration project |
Back to top
l. Agriculture
Secretary Johanns and Minnesota Governor Pawlenty sign a Conservation
Reserve Enhancement Program agreement at an Earth Day event at the Straight
Marsh Wetland Restoration Project |
Back to top
Earth Day at Frey Ranch in Fallon, Nevada
To celebrate Earth Day, the Western Nevada Resource Conservation
& Development Council and NRCS co-sponsored the Carson River Workday, April 22,
at Norman Frey’s Ranch in Fallon, Nevada. Approximately 150 elementary
school students, 17 volunteers, and employees from different agricultural
agencies participated. The event featured seven lecture stations where topics
such as the water cycle, identification of plants, and soil testing were
discussed.
school children answer
questions at one of the seven lecture stations on the Frey ranch where
topics such as the water cycle, identification of plants, and soil testing
were discussed |
Back to top
NRCS, NACD, and Burton Wildlife Foundation Earth
Day
Krysta Harden, National Association of Conservation Districts, CEO,
celebrated Earth Day 2005 with NRCS Chief Bruce Knight, NASCAR driver Ward
Burton, local officials and others involved with conservation efforts at the
Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation preserve near Halifax, Virginia.
from l. Krysta Harden,
Ward Burton, and NRCS
Chief Bruce Knight |
Back to top
Washington
Earth Day Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) Tree
Planting
NRCS and the Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force organized an
Earth Day planting project at a WRP near Arlington, Washington. Over a hundred
people participated including high school groups, families, and an
environmental group from Boeing Aircraft. The task force provided the water and
NRCS provided the plantings and a good measure of “sweat equity.”
l. NRCS Deputy Chief for Programs Tom Christensen
and NRCS West Area Conservationist Rick Noble provide some "sweat equity" by
helping to plant trees at the Earth Day WRP tree planting |
Back to top
Wisconsin
Joint Earth Day Celebration
A joint Earth Day celebration was held in Lafayette County,
Wisconsin, to recognize Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program contracts and the
70th anniversary of NRCS.
from l. Rebecca
Baumann, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation
Association; Pat Leavenworth, NRCS State Conservationist; Ben Brancel, Farm
Service Agency
State Director; Jim Doyle, Governor; and Rod Nilsestuen, State Secretary of
Agriculture |
Back to top
| | |