TogetherGreen Volunteer Day

The Francis Beidler Forest once again has been awarded a TogetherGreen Volunteer Days grant to aid in the effort to increase volunteer participation at the sanctuary while simultaneously achieving their conservation goals. Sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales USA, TOGETHERGREEN VOLUNTEER DAYS are events designed to connect people with enjoyable opportunities to make a difference for conservation in their neighborhood. Beidler Forest Center Director, Mike Dawson says, “Volunteerism is the key to shaping a healthy environmental future. It gives people a chance to make positive changes; to learn more about the pressing issues affecting local wildlife and habitat; and to meet others with shared interests.”

Tomorrow from 9:00 AM til noon, Audubon staff and volunteers will be traipsing through the swamp woods that parallel State Road 78 where it crosses Four Holes Swamp (shaded yellow area) in search of all manner of litter and trash in an attempt to clean up this important stretch of the swamp. This is the route that garbage trucks take on their way to the local landfills and unfortunately an embarrassing amount of trash and litter blows out of these trucks along the way and ends up in the swamp bottom. They plan to attack the road and woods edge armed with trash bags and as many volunteers as can be mustered and hopefully clean up the entire road frontage. The project is not just about beautifying the main approach route to the Beidler Forest, but will also be good for water quality, as when the water level rises in the swamp, much of the debris is carried off downstream. Volunteers should dress for the weather, long pants are recommended and bring some work gloves (and a “picker upper” if you have one!) Drinks, TogetherGreen T-shirts, hats, or totes and free passes to the Beidler Forest will be available to all participants.

Plan on meeting at the small county park located at the intersection of Highway 78 and 178 (see push pin on map). Please call 843-462-2150 for directions or more information. To learn about other volunteer opportunities at Beidler Forest, go to http://www.beidlerforest.com/ and hit the Volunteer tab!

Images by Mark Musselman