Save Maumees 6th Annual EARTH DAY 2011 Celebration!
Coordinated by Save Maumee Grassroots Organization
Safety Sheet Please take a moment now and read!
o DO NOT PICK UP ANY BOTTLES CONNECTED TO A TUBE: IT MAYBE
A METH-LAB *DO NOT TOUCH*DANGER*Find someone in a Save Maumee shirt.
o Go on your walk with a buddy so you can help and watch each other!
o Do not walk on unstable stream banks, disturbing these banks-including the vegetation growing upon them-can accelerate erosion and lead to a collapse. Some of the plants you step on may have been planted by another participant! Be part of the solution, not part of the problem! NO STEPPING ON PLANTS.
o Dont pick up any hypodermic needles, or other medical or hazardous waste or animal carcasses or manure but please notify someone to dispose of anything in question. DO NOT TOUCH DEAD BIRDS. (bird flu & notify someone)
o We only want adults picking up sharp objects like glass because we do not want any children handling anything on which they may accidentally cut themselves. Adequate adult supervision is required at all times for anyone under 18!
**DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CHILDREN ON A RIVERBANK**
o DO NOT TAKE OR MOVE TURTLES, CLAMS OR FROGS it is illegal
o Be alert at all times for holes or obstacles near the riverbank, wear shoes that are in good condition and have traction there is always the potential for harm.
o We require gloves for hands, and shoes for climbing…you will get muddy.
o Be alert for stinging insects and animals do bite.
o Beware of plants. Watch for poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak, and other skin-irritating vegetation. REMEMBER: leaves of three let them be.
o The water is very cold, and moves quickly, no matter how calm it seems!
Keep children away from water and dont get in or fall in! Death can occur in 6 minutes in cold water.
o Never wade in swift or high water, currents can sweep you away quickly!
o Any open soars or blisters would be a risk for infection because of the unsanitary condition of the river and/or things that may have sat in river water.
o Do not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs because injury would be more likely.
o Never drink the water ~use hand washing buckets with sanitizer to clean hands often, and be wary when eating and drinking if your hands have been in contact with stream water or garbage. Use our cleaning station where you checked in!
o We DO like insects, they feed many things ~ DO NOT KILL THEM.
IF YOU DO NOT SIGN THE LIABILITY WAIVER PLEASE DO NOT PARTICIPATE! This is a volunteer event and we want everyone safe, but we are not responsible for illness, injuries or death, AND we have cameras that may take your picture, so please sign the waiver if you havent already and have everyone in your group do the same.
This day is for you, our river and our larger community to be enjoyed by ALL!
The River truly thanks you from its bottom!
How it works:
Thank you for participating in Earth Day 2011 Celebration. Please sit down and speak to someone and speak to everyone! There are many educators and activists here that want to share with you! Smile at strangers. WE want everyone to love the rivers as we do! We are always excited about how much we have to plant and restore this year! It took all year to raise this much money for only seed and erosion control mats! Please donate TODAY for Earth Day 2012, we are only citizen sponsored, and 100% volunteer but this is a FREE event that takes much coordination.
1. Sign in and REGISTER FIRST, SIGN LIABILITY WAIVER and listen/read any information being presented about our rivers. Many people are around – Talk to someone READ THE SIGNS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE TENT FOR EXACT TIMES OF ACTIVIES Walk over to seed / plant / shovel station afterwards.
2. Plant seeds on your walk AND/OR Trees. Dont walk on new life please!
Planting Seed: – Planting Midwestern Prairie Grass Erosion Control Mix & suggested by Earth Source Inc/Heartland Restoration & Save Maumees Seed from / Fox Island Seed Gathering underneath 4,500 sq ft of erosion control mats TODAY.
a. Find a good area where grass needs to grow and may not get washed away
by the first rain.
b. Stir up some dirt with your shoe/rake/ stick.
c. Sprinkle some seeds in the raked up dirt
d. Cover the newly planted seeds with the dirt you stirred up.
e. Step-on the freshly planted seeds to hold them in the earth, SECURE the soil.
Planting a Tree:
a. Pick out a tree you would like to plant in an area further than 10ft from larger trees. Dont forget to grab a shovel!
b. Plant all the roots into the soil so they are suspended, not cramped roots. Preferably in very-moist soil
c. Secure it firmly with the leftover soil and step all around it so the soil will not move if we have a rain event in the near future.
3. Pick up trash on your way back to the large dumpster.
a. Dont walk farther than you want to walk back.
b. Remember the suggestions on the safety page.
GOOD JOB! This is grassroots organizing at its finest! ~
The benthos community THANKS YOU!
TIMES for SPECIFIC 2011 EARTH DAY FESTIVITIES:
Check out signs on BOTH sides of the tent for exact location of activities.
11AM – Sign in at the Information Table and go for a walk, wonder what all the buildings contain around your waterways, see it for yourself, notice the beauty in your surroundings.
– Sounds of Saturn will be our groovy entertainment till 1ish!
11:30AM -Judith Nastally ~ Neuhouser Nursery Native Plants & discussing specifically about the plants we will be installing TODAY!
NOON – Dr. I.C. Coldwater talks about local water issues upstream and downstream.
NOON REMOTE SITE VOLUNTEERS LEAVE for large scale measured clean-up
– BIG BURLEY PEOPLE and helpful hands Bring your truck, shovel and pull chains and cameras ~
– If you want to make a difference this is IT!
– YOU HAVE the time it takes to remove one-and-one-half hours worth of trash from our rivers
GO
– RETURN TIME 1:45
.BIG BURLEY PEOPLE and helpful hands RETURN to Niagara Drive for MEDIA BLITZ @ 1:45PM
1PM ~ Bob Dispenza from Allen County Parks speaks on energy and water conservation and demonstration of a car conversion battery pulse and glide driving!
– The Wilderness will be rocking us into the afternoon!
1:45PM ~ MEDIA BLITZ calling all media and river lovers! Bring your homemade sign for our media blitz and we need your help. Have a good time with it! A MUST SEE! You will laugh. Find our sign making area by the face painting.
2:30PM~ Soarin Hawk Raptor Rehab presents native raptors in the area ~ SSSHHH WE NEED TO BE QUIET it disturbs these wild raptors of prey.
3:00PM ~ Environmental Childrens Story Time. Written by Save Maumees Earth Literacy Master Bruce Allen
3:30PM ~ Save Maumee STOMP – YOU planted it! We have to make sure it is secured into the ground! The river raises and falls quickly because all the trees have been removed and replaced with large stones. STOMP the soil around the plants and burry the seeds with your pressure. WATCH OUT for new growing life and dont STOMP that!
What are all these seeds we are planting all day? Joe Pye Weed, Prairie Cord Grass, Common Milk Weed, Tall Ironweed, Bidens, Switchgrass, Yellow & Gray Headed Coneflower, Monarda, Rosinweed, Spiderwort, Big Blue Stem, Cup Plant, Rice Cut Grass, Virginia & Canada Wild Rye, Prairie Dock, Prairie Dropseed, Mountain Mint, New England Aster, Yarrow, Lemon Queen, Grey Goldenrod, Dogwood Berries, Black Eyed Susan, Evening Primrose, Fox Glove, Nodding Onion and RASPBERRY BUSHES.
What Trees are we planting today? 210 Hazelnut, 60 Burr Oak, 40 River Birch, 40 White Swamp Oak, 28 White Oak, 20 Flower Dogwood, 20 Butterfly Bushes, 10 Tulip Poplars, 8 Red Oak, 6 Red Maple A total of 442 TREES!
What are the plant plugs? $1,000 worth of pre-grown plants include 245 Carex lacustris, 147 Glyceria strata, 147 Heliopsis Helianthoides, 98 Hystrix patula, 98 Carex muskingumensis, 3 Silphium perfoliatum, 3 Elymus villosus!
What else throughout The Day?
- MASSIVE seed planting for everyone and 4,500 sq. ft. of erosion control mats installed TODAY! Want to know what about the plants? Come to the 11:30 explanation of each plant by Judith Nastally! All seed and chaff weighed approximately 150lbs.
- Largest Save Maumee erosion control project to date – 4,500 sq. ft of GeoJute (coconut mesh) will be installed over native DNR approved seed blend TODAY and completely disintegrate in 4 years, leaving a nice mesh of grasses.
- Sounds of Saturn will be playing between 11am-1pm an encore for your rivers!
- The Wilderness – non-fiction rock band playing originals and jam out classics ~ making the play for a 5th time at a Save Maumee event @ 1pm-4pm
- Make a Sign – supplies are limited or BYO sign & use it at 1:45-TELL US HOW YOU LOVE MOTHER EARTH!
- Bag Monster makes his debut at Save Maumees Earth Day
- Face Painting
- Andys Horse Tours and Rentals – we couldnt get a big enough truck with a hitch to transport on a Sunday and it was going to cost $400 for transportation costs~ BOO but we love our friends & see you next year!
- Chuck & Birds ~ LOCAL grown food served to you on the riverbanks! 11:30-1
- Sports & Spirits on Anthony Blvd. serving 20 pizzas at 3pm
- Health Food Shoppe snacks
- Old Crown Roasters Coffee
- REUSABLE water bottles from ACRES Land Trust & US ARMY & Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership. DONT BUY BOTTLED WATER
- Pick up lots of educational material and read it later!
Looking for the things you find on your riverbanks
-Largest Trash Most Likely to Contaminate Our River Trash Funniest Trash Weirdest Trash- Most Interesting Find- Most Useful Trash – BEST Little River Hero (1 boy 1 girl) – Hardest Worker River Hero – Largest Unified Group of River Heroes –
PRE 2011 Save Maumee Stats: Because YOU: REMOVED 9 tons of GARBAGE from the Rivers and Riverbanks of the Fort Wayne Area -PLANTED over 1,000 trees 800 lbs of DNR approved native riparian seed installed over 10,000 sq ft of erosion control mats planted 50 native fruit trees, 50 raspberry/blackberry bushes, harvested 56 lbs worth of seed and raised awareness SUCCESSFULLY! Planning to plant several hundred pounds of seed TODAY!
NO CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP: 100% donations from our local citizens go only and directly to best management practices for naturalization of riparian areas – this is what grassroots organizing is all about! ALL VOLUNTEERS~ All money came from: Grateful Music Productions/Save Maumee Rock Out-Camp Out, Berlin Music Pubs PUNK PARTY, Save Maumee Earth Day 2010, Save Maumee Canoe Clean-Up 2010, Save Maumee Presents: Sounds of Saturn & Les Nester at Dash-In, Sports & Spirits Bar & Grill. Namnaste to many small monetary donors! Save Maumee did not raise as much money as last year but we are very proud to supply you with these effective erosion control techniques for OUR riverbanks!
What is the Media Blitz @ 1:45PM?
Save Maumee Grassroots Organization is attempting to make national T.V. ~ we want the media to help us draw attention to our efforts and many issues that face our waterways because we want CLEAN WATER. If you do not want to be video recorded, be aware of the cameras and keep working out of sight & sign the waiver. ~ EVERYONE WELCOME!
We hope you will just roll with it and have a good time!
#1 Look like you are having the time of your life, SMILE, dance, hula hoop, juggle, be funny and show excitement. Free expression time!
#2 Gather close together at the designated sign: Media Blitz Here @1:45.
#3 We will be giving a shout-out to the following people & hold up signs for:
YELL: WE LOVE YOU _____________________
———————————————————————————————-
#1 Ellen Degeneres The Wilderness plays for our dancing pleasure-DANCE
#2 Jimmy Kimmel We will mention Harry Baals our former mayor
#3 John Stewart We will mention Harry Baals our former mayor
#4 Steven Colbert STEVEN STEVEN STEVEN chant his name
#5 Oprah Winfrey We want you to know what is happening to your Great Lakes
#6 – Dr. Oz we want to know about the contaminants that are in our water and what long term exposure does to our body? Cryptosporidium, Mercury, PCB, Heavy metals, non-pharmaceutical grade fluoride, hexovalent chromium, Perchlorate, phosphorous?
———————————————————————————————-
Each of the celebrities will get about 10-20 seconds of us yelling for them
then we will CUT and start the next designated person.
GOT IT? Impromptu grassroots organizing?
Disclaimer: Save Maumee does not carry power as to the fate of our rivers. YOU DO! People need to feel more connected to each other, to nature, and to the things that are most valuable. We feel a personal connection to our waterways and love our rivers and we want you to as well. Civic duty and helping your fellow man should be words that fall from your mouth continuously. We want this event to leave you hopeful and empowered. Please realize that we all want the same thing – CLEAN WATER. Water is a right not a luxury and keeping pollution out of our rivers is our priority. We do not talk politics, but you are making a political statement by being here.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, dedicated citizens can change the world indeed it is the only thing that ever has. –Margaret Mead
Special THANK YOU from Save Maumee to the following people who helped bring all of us together this year! Our events are FREE but ALL donations go to projects like this one! Give till it hurts OUCH!
Heartland Communities Inc. 501 © (3) Non-For Profit tax exempt umbrella sponsor.
Allen County Soil & Water Conservation District 410 Bare Root Trees
Soaring Hawk Raptor Rehab Birds of prey non-for-profit rescue group
Do-It Best & Home Depot Shovels, Rakes, hoes & GREAT extras
Top Notch Tree Service (Kenny& Becki) greenhouse & consultation
Heartland Restoration /Earth Source Chaff, seed, plants, consultation Eric Ummel
Partnership for Water Quality Matt Jones awareness raising & education
Judith Nastally seed, plant & tree education about the specific plants
City of Fort Wayne Waived our Assembly Permit Fee for the 3nd time!
Old Crown Coffee (Mike & Jen) Coffee & drinkin supplies
Health Food Shoppe & American Rivers All natural snacks & trash bags
Camp Potawotami – 20X15 tent
Citizens Action Coalition-Printed Material, long-distance calls, endless paper
Save Maumee Grassroots Org – Erosion Control Mats / raspberry bushes / T-Shirts / stickers/ native local seeds & general fun provider
USA Air Force / ACRES Land Trust / Upper Maumee Watershed Partnership donated REUSABLE bottles STOP BUYING SINGLE USE WATER BOTTLES!
Halls Triangle Park – gloves, 5 gallon buckets, trash bags
Chuck & Birds Market, Bistro & Home Delivery serves high quality foods grown and produced by our local farmers and artisans!
Summit City Noise Save Maumee banner & demonstration
Bob Dispenza from County Parks Dept. showing us his homemade green vehicle
City Utilities Solid Waste Dept- 30 yard dumpster
Fox Island & County Parks: Use of land for seed gathering
Allen County Public ACCESS – Produced the Earth Day for several years now!
The Wilderness & Sounds of Saturn Live entertainment – Rivers LOVE music
Green Dog – Goodies for your pet ~ prizes!
Indiana Computer Service Web & Computer expert consulting provided
Phi Theta Kappa Alpha Kappa Nu Chapter IPFW advertizing & labor
Lydia Savitz & Jason LaMont & new-born Lee! Port-A-Jon donation
Sports & Spirits on Anthony Blvd. pizza and plant/seed purchase
PRINTING! WE ALWAYS NEED PRINTING – but got it from Shannon Gill & Becky Tietz
Greatful Music Productions PA system and all their time! Thanks Doug & Rose!
Friends of the Rivers matched us $1,000 worth of plant plugs! (pre-grown plants)
Marissa Jones, Ryan Bailey, Grace Strahm, Liz Magno, Rebecca Tietz, Mike Miller, Ellen Ley, Bruce Allen, Craig Thorne, Greg Konger, Burk, Les Lesser, Dan Murray, Jen Hancock, Dana Jinx, Brian Foster, Melanie McKinnley & Wade & Davis King All do whatever Save Maumee asks!
AND ALL OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO HELP EVERYDAY AS VOLUNTEERS The heart of grassroots belongs to PEOPLE who donate time, supplies, money, expertise – or ALL of these things!