Earth Day events set for Sisters Country

This year's Earth Day activities in the Sisters Country are focused on restoring Whychus Creek.

The National Forest Foundation (NFF) provided a grant to the Sisters Ranger District to restore Whychus Creek and Metolius River watersheds. Many area organizations partner with NFF to support our natural environment: Sisters Trail Alliance/Friends of the Forest (FOF), Friends of the Metolius (FOM), the Sisters Ranger District, the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce, and Sisters Country

Co-Op.

The week offers opportunities to get out in the great outdoors, meet with friends, and make a significant contribution to the environment.

On April 22, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., FOF and FOM are sponsoring sign installation along the Lake Creek Trail at Suttle Lake. Sisters Country Co-Op, a partnership of five local lodges in Sisters Country, has been raising funds all year to pay for the signs which guide visitors along the Lake Creek Trail.

The morning begins with a donated breakfast in the lush surroundings of The Lodge at Suttle Lake. It's a great opportunity to help the Friends of the Metolius and enjoy the peace and beauty of the lake.

Also on April 22, Ray's Food Place is sponsoring Bike to School Day. Thursday morning at 7 a.m. Sisters High School students are to bike to school and check in at the teachers' parking lot. Students will receive pledge forms and pledge to help the environment. Students' pledges will be written on paper leaves and decorate a paper tree in the common area.

Every Bike to School participant will get a free bottle of water, a free Clif bar, and a free Sisters Coffee Company drink, all paid for by Ray's Food Place.

On Saturday, April 24 plan to dig in, have fun, and clean up.

The morning begins with breakfast and a talk at 9 a.m. at the community room at the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District building on Elm Street.

At 10 a.m. volunteers will disperse to their project of choice, work until 2 p.m. with a short break for lunch, and may leave from the service area. Bring your own

lunch.

Choose from one of four groups: Trail restoration of Whychus Creek's trails, or work hand-in-hand with Sisters Forest Service's District Ecologist Maret Pajutee and clean up along Whychus Creek. Another group will clean up along Peterson Ridge Trails in preparation for the site's grand opening on May 22. The fourth group will do litter removal by the Sisters High School crossroads trail.

There will also be some graffiti cleanup in the Deschutes National Forest.

Materials for cleanup by the high school and on the trails are provided by SOLV. SOLV also provided a $100 grant for disposal of large trash items found along Whychus Creek.

High Country Disposal is donating a dumpster to help with the Earth Day cleanup.

Every year a new Americorp member volunteers through the Northwest Service Academy for 11 months learning about the environment and gaining work experience. Karly Hedrick is this year's volunteer. She has an office at the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce.

"Americorp is marketed as an alternative to the army," Hedrick said. "Americorp provides a living stipend, health benefits, and at the end of your service, a $4,725 scholarship to use for graduate school or to pay off education loans."

Hedrick has always volunteered in her community.

"What makes Sisters so great is that we work together and volunteer together," Hedrick said. "By volunteering I discover new hobbies and skills for jobs."

Part of Hedrick's mission is to emphasize the fact that a key reason people come to Sisters is the beauty of our environment.

"If we can connect the business community, the culture, the environment, and our visitors to the environment," Hedrick stated, "the stronger our community will be."

Sign up to volunteer

at http://www.nationalforests.org/volunteer or contact [email protected]

sisterscountry.com.