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For Immediate Release: September 12, 2000
Contact: Robert Smith (760) 326-7000
Thousands Volunteer for Nationwide "Work Day"
Thousands of volunteers nationwide are scheduled to participate in the 7th Annual National Public Lands Day on September 23rd. The nationwide event is a day when families and groups of all ages volunteer to "give something back" to America's millions of acres of public lands.
Local volunteers will work with the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Needles Field Office site managers and staff at Sunflower Springs within the Old Woman Mountains Wilderness. Tasks will include clean-up of trash and debris around an old cabin site, repair of a riparian enclosure fence, and installation of a wilderness gate and trail head marker.
"This work will benefit our desert wildlife including Big Horn Sheep, Quail, Dove, Red Tailed Hawks, and a variety of reptiles and small mammals," said Molly Brady, Field Manager at BLM's Needles Field Office.
"Most of all, National Public Lands Day is about the value of public lands as an economic resource, an environmental refuge, and a recreational paradise," added Brady. "Getting people out into their public lands helps them understand the importance of public lands in their community, and the environment as a whole."
Nationally sponsored by Toyota, National Public Lands Day is the largest nationwide volunteer workday for America's irreplaceable resource... it's public lands our deserts, parks, forests, refuges, lake shores, grasslands and historic sites.
"Preserving the environment is the responsibility of every member of society," said Douglas M. West, Toyota Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. "That's why Toyota is so pleased to be involved in National Public Lands Day."
Coordinated by The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation, National Public Lands Day began with three states, two hundred volunteers and an idea. The original idea was that the millions of Americans who use public lands each year federal, state, and local- could spend a day giving something back to the land, their country. By doing so, they acknowledge the important role that public lands play in America as irreplaceable natural resources and unmatched recreational venues.
BLM estimates more than 50,000 volunteers will participate in projects at 250 sites throughout the United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico . . . a ringing endorsement for public lands in America.
Contact Rob Smith at (760) 326-7000 for more information regarding the BLM Needles Office National Public Lands Day project.
-BLM-
California Desert District Office - 6221 Box Springs Blvd,
Riverside, California - (909) 697-5220 |
