Green things are happening in Camas - Partner Highlight with Camas Earth Day Society
“We are the Camas Earth Day Society - Reimagining, restoring and investing in a sustainable future focused on healthy water, clean air and vibrant landscapes”
The Founder of Earth Day
Dennis Hayes from Camas, WA was the first Director of the national Earth Day movement, started in 1970. Denis Hayes grew up in Camas during the time when there were no limitations on how land, water and air were used. His work to create the first Earth Day brought together people working to address clean air & water, pollution reduction and protection of wildlife. With over 20 million people joining that first event, earthday.org continues the work to address healthy communities. Today, the Camas Earth Day Society continues the legacy and work that Dennis started in Camas, Washington.
(Photo source: National Geographic)
The Camas Earth Day Society (CEDS) are stewards of our environment, taking local actions to create enduring impacts for our community, by:
Building community support for healthy, vibrant ecosystems
Advancing the knowledge and understanding of sustainable development and practices
Bringing technical knowledge to the discussions about our environment in Camas
Becoming a leading voice in future planning activities
Fostering enduring partnerships that strengthen our sustainable future
Encouraging and welcoming everyone in Camas to join us in creating a better tomorrow
We seek to: Be an Earth Day “voice” for Camas - Make Camas the Home of Earth Day
CEDS Native Plant Demonstration Garden at the Camas Library
Several volunteers with extremely green thumbs spent time this fall at the Camas Library, pulling invasive plants and planting even more native plants to enrich the landscape and help the pollinators with a local food source close by to the bee hotel hanging in the large tree out front. We look forward to next spring and summer to see the results of all this work fully in bloom. Check out this video for a sneak peek.
Living Lab - The Terraces at Prune Hill Elementary School
In partnership with Prune Hill Elementary, CEDS is converting an unused school field into a vibrant lab for the 5th grade Earth Science classes. Living Lab is a hands-on outdoor classroom dedicated to exploring local ecology and sustainability.
A recent event brought students, teachers, and volunteers together to celebrate the beauty and heritage of the Pacific Northwest — and to plant the camas bulbs. Students learned about the history of camas plants native to this region.
Learn more here.
Local grants make a big difference in Camas
The CEDS recently received two grants to support their work:
Washington Native Plant Society - An educational grant from WNPS allows CEDS to embark on phase 2 of our Living Lab project. This funding provided hand tools, gloves, storage bins, and a variety of native plants to put into our new terrace spaces with our fifth graders from Prune Hill Elementary School.
Community Alliance For SW WA (CAFSWW) -A gift from the CAFSWW (The Melching Family Fund) enables CEDS to plant even more native plants at the Living Lab and our hometown library. We have increased interpretive signage to enhance visitor knowledge about native plant species and developed a low maintenance, timed irrigation system on the living lab site.
Lacamas Lake Cleanup
The City of Camas and Watershed Alliance of SW Washington combined for yet another successful lake cleanup event. In addition to the Camas Earth Day Society, the Camas Ivy League and Lacamas Watershed Council volunteers, Camas youth showed up in great numbers, with Green Team members from Hayes Freedom (shown right) and Camas High Schoolers patrolling the shores and extracting all kinds of trash. It's encouraging to see the next generation getting involved with environmental issues and investing their "sweat equity" to make their own community a better place to live.
(Photo source: Watershed Alliance of SW WA)
These are just a few of the many highlights in the recent Camas Earth Day Society newsletter. Learn more about their wide range of work, partnerships and volunteer opportunities at www.camasearthdaysociety.com
(All photos from CEDS, unless noted otherwise)
