Celebrate Earth Day

Free events and trees offered by municipality

While Earth Day is celebrated on just one day in the calendar year, for many, Earth Day isn’t just about a single day of fun activities and events. It’s about caring, advocating, and taking action every day to ensure a better planet for its current inhabitants, and also for future generations. It’s a day to reflect on the importance of the environment, how we as humans can reduce our impact and footprint, and as the effects of climate change become more apparent, it’s about making vital changes to behaviour to protect the earth every day of the year. Earth Day is about creating awareness and learning how fragile the planet is and why it is a vital to take care of it. Celebrated each year on April 22 around the globe, Earth Day originated in the United States in 1970; Earth Day Canada started in 1990.

Whether a tiny effort or embarking on a bigger project, everyone can do a little to help the planet, especially as Earth Day approaches. Locally, the municipality, which declared a climate emergency in 2019, is celebrating Earth Day with a series of community-focused events centred on the environment and sustainability, with several free activities to encourage community participation.

On Earth Day this Friday (April 22), there will be an expert chat with Ben O’Brien of Wild by Design and Bay Woodyard of Honeypie Hives and Herbals where you can learn how to make your garden plantings more sustainable. County staff from the Environmental Services and Sustainability team will also be on hand. The free event will be held at Macaulay Heritage Park at 1 p.m. “The talk will introduce practical methods for planting, what species work best in this area and how these choices can support the pollinator population.” For details, visit thecounty.ca/event/expert-chat-sustainableplanting-at-home.

Saturday (April 23) is clean-up day in Prince Edward County where volunteers can register to help clean-up an area of their choice. This year, Trash Bash, as many still refer to it, is being undertaken in memory of Owen Jones who devoted his days ensuring downtown Picton was clean of debris and free of litter. “Residents are encouraged to collect litter in the community and deliver it (without charge) to bins located at four locations, including the Midtown Brewing parking lot (266 Wellington Main Street), Picton Home Hardware (13544 Loyalist Parkway, Picton), Roblin Lake (13 Coleman Street, Ameliasburgh), and Milford Town Hall (3076 County Road 10, Milford).” Participants are encouraged to pre-register to avoid duplicating areas of clean up. Bags and gloves are available at Wellington Home Hardware and Picton Home Hardware this week. For details, visit thecounty.ca/event/owen-jones-memorial-clean-up.

The following Saturday (April 30), the municipality, in partnership with Quinte Conservation, have a tree seedling giveaway. Residents can select up to two (per household) free tree seedlings from a choice of black cherry, white pine, red oak, white spruce, sugar maple, white oak and red pine. The giveaway is happening at two locations from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Delhi Park (Lalor Street) in Picton (near the community gardens), and Wellington and District Community Centre, 111 Belleville Street (rear of arena) on a first-come, first served basis. “The tree seedling giveaway is free to residents of Prince Edward County and is part of the Adopt-a-Tree program, which aims to improve the tree cover in the County,” said Julianne Snepsts, Communications Coordinator. A discussion on naturalization by Quinte Conservation, along with a tree planting demonstration will also take place at the Delhi Park location only at 10:30 a.m.

The idea behind the tree giveaway initiative is to give homeowners the opportunity to improve tree cover throughout the County. Those who have experienced tree loss due to the emerald ash borer are especially encouraged to participate. “Residents are asked to monitor and maintain the tree and provide updates to County staff if the health of the trees deteriorates.” Residents who take advantage of the giveaway will be required to supply their name, address, and contact information to participate in the program. For details, visit thecounty.ca/event/community-trees-seedling-giveaway.

With sustainability in mind, the County recently launched a new Sustainability Hub on their website which looks at some of the ways the municipality is dealing with the climate emergency and how residents can be a part of that. The municipality is encouraging residents to explore the website to learn more about a number of municipal-related projects regarding the environment and sustainability. It contains a community groups’ directory, grants and funding sources, resources, information and more. For details, visit thecounty.ca/sustainability. The municipality also recently set up an interactive invasive species mapping tool. The idea is the public can report any invasive plants and insects encountered in Prince Edward County for the purpose of aiding with data collection. For details, visit haveyoursay.thecounty.ca/invasive-species-mapping.

More information on the municipality’s Earth Day events can found at thecounty.ca/county_news_notices/ the-county-celebrates-earth-day-with-onlinesustainability-hub-tree-giveaway.