Celebrate Earth Day with River Restoration Tree-Planting Event

Stream Team 2007 volunteers to plant hundreds of native trees along over a mile of the Rio Puerco to restore the river and wildlife habitat

Stream Team 2007 is a grassroots river restoration project happening at WildEarth Guardians' Rio Puerco Preserve. Volunteers from all over the state will gather to plant trees and revitalize the area.

What: Stream Team 2007 Tree Planting Event

Where: WildEarth Guardians Rio Puerco Preserve 7 miles South of Cuba, NM, on Hwy 550, after mile marker 57

When: April 20 and April 21, 2007 10am-3pm each day

Who: More than 100 volunteers and WildEarth Guardians

Contact: Rosie Brandenberger, 505.988.9126x155 or rosie@fguardians.org

SANTA FE, NM-Stream Team is a massive undertaking. It started four years ago with a vision of vibrant, healthy streamside forests all across the Southwest. Its ultimate goal is to create self-sustaining rivers of cool, clean water and provide critical streamside habitat for wildlife such as beavers, trout and hundreds of songbirds.

Each spring, New Mexicans have come together to celebrate Earth Day by participating in Stream Team, which was created and is organized by WildEarth Guardians, a Southwestern environmental advocacy organization. This Earth Day, Stream Team volunteers will plant hundreds of native cottonwood and willow trees along the banks of the Rio Puerco in central New Mexico. After weeks of removing non-native invasive trees such as salt-cedar by hand, gathering native trees to be planted, digging holes eight-feet deep for the trees, and preparing the site, WildEarth Guardians says it is ready for Stream Team 2007.

Once severely damaged by poor land management practices such as cattle grazing which contributes to the expansion of water-hungry non-native trees, the Rio Puerco is coming back to life because of active river restoration. Areas like the Rio Puerco are ecologically critical streamside ecosystems in the arid Southwest. Approximately 75% of native plants and animals depend on Southwest streams for their survival, yet waterways represent a mere 1% of the landscape in this region.

Residents from Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and beyond are celebrating Earth Day this year by getting their hands dirty and planting trees to ensure that our precious waterways are healthy arteries of life. More than 100 volunteers are expected to join the Stream Team this Friday and Saturday and each person is expected to plant approximately 50 trees in order to stabilize stream banks along the river, improve water quality, and provide critical habitat to local wildlife.

Some Stream Team volunteers have taken their commitment to Southwestern rivers to the next level by gathering financial pledges for each tree planted. This grassroots fundraising not only allows WildEarth Guardians to continue its river restoration efforts but also helps raise awareness about the simple things citizens can do to improve the health of local rivers.

"Our Stream Team family continues to grow each year because people have so much fun," says Rosie Brandenberger, Communications Director for WildEarth Guardians. "Volunteers know they are making a difference and helping to restore one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. And they are inspired by the success they see as the trees they've planted thrive year after year, so they're motivated to raise money for the cause."

Last weekend, WildEarth Guardians hosted a Stream Team event on the banks of the Santa Fe River. After almost ten years of restoration along a stretch of the Santa Fe River near the airport, WildEarth Guardians continues to improve the river's condition by planting willows, cottonwoods, and other native vegetation along eroded stream banks to restore the river's natural flow and water quality. The trees the group has planted along there city's namesake river are thriving and have provided a self-sustaining seed source for a healthy streamside habitat just minutes from downtown Santa Fe.

"Our river restoration on both the Santa Fe River and the Rio Puerco has been a huge success over the past several years, and Stream Team is always a fun event. Stream Team is an excellent way for people who care about our connection with and dependence on the natural world to be part of a solution to environmental problems with their own bare hands and creative energy," says Brandenberger. "It feels good to know you've made a real tangible difference for our delicate planet at the end of a hard day's work."

View the Video - Santa Fe River Stream Team event


 

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