Flood-Ravaged Parks, Boy Scout Camps, Schools, and Other Community Green Spaces Get Special Attention by Landscape and Lawn Care Professionals on Earth Day, April 22, 2009
PLANET Day of Service
HERNDON, VA, April 6, 2009: Zoos, elementary schools,city parks, Boy Scout camps, churches, and cemeteries are just a few of the places that will receive special attention on the national PLANET Day of Service this Earth Day, April 22, 2009.
Members of the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), the nation’s lawn care and landscape trade association, are undertaking a hundreds of volunteer lawn and landscape projects in communities across the country to demonstrate the importance of maintaining our green spaces.
Flooding in Iowa last year created a path of environmental damage. PLANET member Paul Dykstra, president of Iowa City Landscaping, decided that his company could do something to help repair the damage. Members of his company along with volunteers will be working in parks in Iowa City and Coralville to replace dirt and mulch that was carried away by the floods. “Trees can get girdled roots, trunk rot, and other damage and disease if they are not cared for,” says Dykstra. “When we heard about the PLANET Day of Service, we thought it was a great opportunity to repair some of the damage.”
Buck & Sons Landscape Service, Inc., in Hilliard, Ohio, is one of the companies doing a project with their local elementary school. At Britton Elementary School, volunteers will be installing an educational planting display about the regional ecology. They are working with the science teachers to develop teaching materials. “It is really important that kids understand that everything we do has an impact on the environment,” says Steve Buck, owner. “We all need to understand how our actions affect the environment.”
Richard Heller, CLP, CLT, of Greener by Design is also working with elementary school children. His company, which specializes in eco-friendly design, will be donating time and services to the Pelham Art Center in Westchester, New York. They will be replanting the garden at the center and inviting local school children to participate in eco-art projects.
The New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association is highlighting the ecology of the Garden State by creating a habitat for the ruffed grouse at the 80-year-old No-Be-Bo-Sco Boy Scout camp in Hardwick, New Jersey. “We wanted to give back to the community and thought this would be a great way for our members to come together on a project,” says Rita Stewart, CLT administrator.
Hundreds of volunteers will also be cleaning up and mulching the green spaces in Louisville, Kentucky, in preparation for the Kentucky Derby during the Brightside/Chase Pre-Derby Cleanup on the PLANET Day of Service.
For more information, log on to planetdayofservice.org.
The Lead Sponsors for the 2009 PLANET Day of Service are Agrium Advanced Technologies, American Profit Recovery, Inc, JOHN DEERE, Lawns by Yorkshire Inc, and Shindaiwa.
PLANET is the association of members who create and maintain the QUALITY OF LIFE in communities across America. With more than 4,000 member companies and affiliates, these firms and their employees represent more than 100,000 green industry professionals. For more information, visit LandcareNetwork.org.
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EARTH DAY IS NATIONAL PLANET DAY OF SERVICE
