Photo By Areca Wilson | Volunteers attend a National Public Lands Day event Sept. 28 at Sepulveda Basin in Los...... read more read more
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, in partnership with the Friends of the Los Angeles River, or FoLAR, hosted a National Public Lands Day clean-up event Sept. 28 at the Sepulveda Basin.
National Public Lands Day's 2024 theme was "Together for Tomorrow."
"Today, we're here to give back to the land; however, we're also here to celebrate our green spaces and the privilege we have to enjoy them," said U.S. Army Maj. David Paxton, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District project manager, during his opening remarks. "The purpose of this joint event is not just to celebrate our public lands and their many uses, but also to inspire environmental stewardship."
According to the National Environmental Education Foundation, which organizes the event, "National Public Lands Day is the nation's largest single-day volunteer effort for public lands."
During the event, in further collaboration with the California Native Plant Society and the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society, volunteers created seed balls to encourage the re-growth of native vegetation, picked up litter and participated in a nature/bird walk. They also removed black mustard, which is a non-native, invasive plant. The plant becomes very flammable during the dry season and can cause fires. When flowering, these plants also drop seeds that further their spread and do not support the local wildlife.
"FoLAR partners with the California Native Plant Society and the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society on this big restoration event called Habitat Restoration and we usually do two hours of restoration work," said Kevin Jauregui, FoLAR Education and Community Programs senior manager. "[This collaboration was] perfect because [the Corps'] event is the fourth Saturday of September, and we do this every 4th Saturday of the month."
The event was open to the public. Forty volunteers turned out, which resulted in 160 volunteer hours donated and $5,358.40 in savings.
"Today was absolutely a success —we would've liked to have seen more numbers, but the folks that came here today have been absolutely phenomenal and they have done some great work," said Nicolas Figueroa, USACE LA District park ranger. "We are expecting to have picked up a couple thousand pounds of litter and vegetation."
| Date Taken: | 10.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 10.01.2024 20:43 |
| Story ID: | 482283 |
| Location: | CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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