Get back to basics with Earth Day

There’s no better place to be green than our own Clark County.

Awash in fantastic flora and crisscrossed by crystalline rivers and streams, favored by migrating waterfowl that love our lowlands and overseen by a formerly snowcapped mountain — which lost its cap in famously explosive fashion — our home is a perfect place to celebrate Earth Day. Heck, one of the chief architects of the modern holiday is Denis Hayes, who grew up in Camas and attended Clark College, and who said his youth in the Pacific Northwest is what cemented his deep reverence for nature — and his need to spread the word about saving it.

So don’t be fooled by crystalline waterways. The Salmon Creek greenway is one of Clark County’s most-loved pedestrian destinations, but the stream itself is actually in “fair to middling condition,” said Ashley King, the StreamTeam coordinator for Clark Public Utilities.

According to a 2010 stream health report by Clark County’s Environmental Services department, Salmon Creek’s water quality and biological health are “good” in upstream rural areas but definitely “poor” when coursing past suburban developments and busy streets. A 2012 study by the state Department of Ecology found the water too warm and oxygen-depleted for fish.

But don’t despair, there’s good news too. Many people have been devoting much effort to Salmon Creek and other local waterways for quite a few years now, and progress is apparent. Both of those county and state reports anticipate short-term improvement — thanks in part to streambed cleanups and the replacement of invasive species with natives. That filters pollutants, fixes the soil and controls erosion, King said. And anyone who’s strolled along the creek recently will have noticed the recent construction of streambeds full of downed trunks and other large, woody debris; these help reduce flooding and provide excellent habitat and protection for spawning fish, King said.

Doing good

All of which is proof that you can be part of the problem, or you can be part of the solution.

Clark Public Utilities is hosting its 17th annual Earth Day Festival at Salmon Creek on Saturday, April 16. If last year is any indication, King said, it could be one busy party. Fourteen hundred guests and 400 volunteers showed up in 2015, filling up all the nearby parking lots. This year, she said, spillover parking will be at Chuck’s Produce, with a shuttle running visitors over to the event.

Volunteers are welcome to get dirty while doing good. Show up a little early — at 8:30 a.m. — to plant native trees, remove invasive garlic mustard or help out with the festival itself with tasks such as sorting recycling. Complete a four-hour shift and get a free lunch or insulated grocery bag and T-shirt. Pre-registration is required at StreamTeam.net or by calling 360-992-8585.

Families and children will enjoy a birds-of-prey demonstration by the Audubon Society of Portland, a “Physics of Fun” juggling act, a “Watershed Reflections” art and writing contest, guided habitat walks and interactive stories with Will Hornyak. Numerous environmental agencies and businesses will be on hand. There’s also food for purchase.

Free at the fort

If you have kids, there’s another kind of serious good you can do: Remove their gadgets and drag them outside.

The National Park Service wants to help you with this task. Entry fees are waived at all 410 Park Service units during National Park Week, April 16 through 24. Visits to the reconstructed Fort Vancouver itself, normally $5, will cost nothing during this time. Special family-friendly events are planned as well.

It all starts at noon April 16 with Junior Ranger Day: kids’ activities, historic demonstrations and the “swearing in” of Junior Rangers (ages 6-12) who complete all the activities in their Junior Ranger booklets. Booklets and badges are for the first 200 kids who show up.

Also April 16 is an 11 a.m. reception at Pearson Air Museum for The Art of Legacy, a project involving Fort Vancouver, downtown’s North Bank Artists Gallery, Thomas Jefferson Middle School and Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. Students from the two schools visited the fort, studied historic documents and archaeology, and used the inspiration to create original artworks. Their show will be on display at Pearson through June 4.

Saturday night will be Yuri’s Night World Space Party at Pearson. Build and launch bottle rockets, learn about space exploration with local experts and get outside for star gazing if weather permits. It’s all in honor of the first man to orbit the Earth, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. The local connection is that Gagarin attended a Russian flight school named for pilot Valery Chkalov, who famously landed the first-ever transpolar flight at Pearson Field in 1937.

Finally, on the afternoon of April 23 there will be a reception for guest Yakama artist Toma Villa, who has spent the past year working on a new sculpture for the just-renovated visitors center on Officers Row. Villa’s “Spirit Pole,” a portrayal of balance in nature that’s fashioned from a single cedar log — with glass additions — will be a permanent, touchable installation in the lobby. He’ll also have numerous temporary works on display, which was the whole idea at first.

“But he came to us with a larger concept,” said curator Theresa Langford. “He told us he thinks this park is really special, and he had this incredible idea for a large, permanent piece and would we be interested?”

The answer was yes. “We think it’s important to have contemporary voices,” Langford said. “To show that people care about the history of this park and its present too.”

Scott Hewitt: 360-735-4525; scott.hewitt@columbian.com; twitter.com/_scotthewitt