The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Rawlins Field Office (RFO) invites individuals, families and groups to participate in its annual National Public Lands Day (NPLD) gathering.
The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Saturday at the Corral Creek Campground along the North Platte River southeast of Saratoga. The RFO has held many successful NPLD events in the past and appreciates the continued support of the community. This year, volunteers will help construct tent pads, repair picnic tables, fix fire rings, install water filters, paint restrooms, pull weeds and pick up litter at the Corral Creek Campground.
Volunteers should meet at 9 a.m. at the Valley Foods IGA Grocery Store, 1120 S. First St. in Saratoga, and wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, closed-toed shoes, sunscreen, safety glasses and gloves. Participants should also bring a hat, and the BLM will also help provide safety glasses and gloves.
Gas powered weed eaters are also needed for the event, and children must be at least 8 years old to volunteer. Participants are also asked to bring a sack lunch and plenty of water, and provide their own transportation (4-wheel drive vehicles are recommended).
Corral Creek Campground is a popular recreation site featuring six campsites with picnic tables, fire rings and grills. Other amenities include vault toilets, day use parking and a foot trail to wade fish in the North Platte River. Wildlife viewing includes bald eagles, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, wild turkeys, mule deer, mountain lions, Greater Sage-grouse, rattlesnakes and rainbow and brown trout.
This year celebrates the 20th anniversary of the NPLD, which began in 1994 with 700 volunteers and three sites. The year 2012 was the biggest NPLD in the history of the event, with about 175,000 volunteers working at 2,206 sites in every state, the District of Columbia and many U.S. territories.
Volunteers in 2012 collected an estimated 23,000 pounds of invasive plants, built and maintained an estimated 1,500 miles of trails, planted an estimated 100,000 trees, shrubs and other native plants, removed an estimated 500 tons of trash from trails and other places, and contributed an estimated $18 million through volunteer services to improve public lands across the country. Eight federal agencies, nonprofit organizations and state, regional and local governments participate in the annual day of caring for public lands.
More NPLD information is available at http://www.publiclandsday.org or http://www.facebook.com/nationalpubliclandsday. One can Tweet about their NPLD experience on Twitter with the Hashtag #NPLD20.
For more information, call Chris Jones at 307-328-4224.
Reader Comments(0)