National Public Lands Day

Saturday, September 26, 2009, 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. 
Registration 8:30 a.m., outdoor projects 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., lunch 12:30 p.m.

National Public Lands Day gives people all across the country the opportunity to put their hands to work on projects to benefit public lands. Participants also learn more about natural resource management and the need for shared stewardship of these lands.

In 2008 a record 284 volunteers celebrated National Public Lands Day on the Campbell Tract. These volunteers helped reroute a dog sled trail, thinned brush along several trails to increase visibility and safety, spread gravel along Coyote and Moose Track Trails, revegetated an abandoned trail corridor, beautified the Science Center grounds, prepared an area for a butterfly garden, painted airstrip gates and walkway posts, raked gravel back onto Old Rondy Trail, and cut and stacked firewood for a Biomass Demonstration Unit (an outdoor wood-burning stove that uses spruce bark beetle-killed trees to heat the Science Center).

After the work projects were completed, we treated volunteers to a recognition lunch. Pizza and beverages were provided by the Friends of the Campbell Creek Science Center and door prizes were provided by area businesses and organizations. "The Asteroids," a local group of young musicians, provided musical entertainment before and after the luncheon.

In the afternoon, about 250 members of the public attended our Annual Open House and learned to “Take It Outside: Connect with Your Public Lands.”