A community service group from the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay, Tony Breeze, Jackie Wongns, Andrew Tennant, and Lisa Tennant, pick up litter along Key Wallace Drive.

Students from the "People to People"organization plant trees at Blackwater NWR.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge held its annual Litter Pick-Up in celebration of Earth Day on April 14, 2007, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Approximately 26 people, from kids to seniors, individuals and families, regular and new volunteers, as well as a community service group from Hyatt Regency, came out to help refuge rangers with the effort. In contrast to last year, the weather for this year's event was perfect, and the strong noreaster that was forecast to hit our area did not arrive until after the 3 p.m. quitting time. Volunteers cleaned the entire 4-mile stretch of Key Wallace Drive, a one-half mile stretch of Egypt Road, a one-mile stretch of Greenbriar Road, Shorters Wharf boat ramp, Rt. 335 canoe launch, and all the refuge's trail heads, amounting to over 50 bags of garbage. Refreshments for the volunteers were provided by the Friends of Blackwater.

The refuge hosted an additional event this year in celebration of Earth Day. On April 21, over 50 young people and their parents from the local chapter of the "People to People" Student Ambassador Program planted nearly 500 tree seedlings on refuge property. The mixture of loblolly pines, black cherry, and pin oaks were planted in a field on Blackwater's "Hog Range" property near the pond used for the refuge's Youth Fishing Derby. Once grown, the trees will serve as a buffer between refuge fields, which are frequented in the fall and winter by migratory waterfowl, and the future site of the State of Maryland's Harriet Tubman Discovery Center, which was acquired by the State in a land swap on April 18, 2007.