Earth Day at Southeast Park

Get inspired to take action at this Earth Day event co-hosted by numerous groups in Bloomington.  Choose from a variety of workshops including how to go native with your landscaping, how to manage storm water at home, how to compost, and how to support green infrastructure in Bloomington.  Take home free native plants.  At 4:15, Maggie Sullivan from Friends of Lake Monroe will present “How to Protect Lake Monroe at Home” and use a 3-D watershed model to demonstrate how actions in your own yard can impact water quality miles downstream.  Advance registration for each session is required at  https://signup.com/go/DCPsQhb.

Full event schedule:

9:00 Weed Wrangle: Learn to ID invasive plants through a hands on experience to get a close up look at the plants causing widespread damage in our forests, wetlands, and spreading to your neighbors’ yard. We’ll be focusing on purple wintercreeper!
9:15 Improving Ecosystem Health: City of Bloomington HAND Department will discuss a grant program designed to help neighborhoods promote ecosystem health and encourage native plants. The Bloomington Environmental Commission will discuss the Bloomington Habitat Connectivity Plan dealing with green infrastructure connectivity and the protection of existing natural spaces.
10:00 Go Native: Deep Roots Landscape Design will demonstrate how to plant native and prevent deer browsing.
11:00 Stormwater – How Can We Help? City of Bloomington Utilities and Parks & Recreation will discuss local climate change mitigation efforts related to stormwater and how you can help! After the presentation, we’ll visit a stream restoration area and discuss how native plants can decrease erosion, reduce runoff, and improve habitat as well as aesthetics.
12:00 Go Native: Deep Roots Landscape Design will demonstrate how to plant native and prevent deer browsing.
1:00 Stormwater – How Can We Help? City of Bloomington Utilities and Parks & Recreation will discuss local climate change mitigation efforts related to stormwater and how you can help! After the presentation, we’ll visit a stream restoration area and discuss how native plants can decrease erosion, reduce runoff, and improve habitat as well as aesthetics.
2:00 Weed Wrangle: Learn to ID invasive plants through a hands on experience to get a close up look at the plants causing widespread damage in our forests, wetlands, and spreading to your neighbors’ yard. We’ll be focusing on purple wintercreeper!
2:15 Improving Ecosystem Health: City of Bloomington HAND Department will discuss a grant program designed to help neighborhoods promote ecosystem health and encourage native plants. The Bloomington Environmental Commission will discuss the Bloomington Habitat Connectivity Plan dealing with green infrastructure connectivity and the protection of existing natural spaces.
3:00 Magic of Composting and Rain Barrels: Go Green District-Monroe County Waste Management District will discuss the magic of composting and rain barrels
4:00 Weed Wrangle: Learn to ID invasive plants through a hands on experience to get a close up look at the plants causing widespread damage in our forests, wetlands, and spreading to your neighbors’ yard. We’ll be focusing on purple wintercreeper!
4:15 Protecting Lake Monroe At Home: Friends of Lake Monroe will use a 3D interactive watershed model to demonstrate how fertilizer, pet poop, sediment, and other types of pollution can travel from our homes to nearby bodies of water in order to teach us how we can protect Lake Monroe and other local water bodies
5:15 Lower Your Carbon Footprint: Carbon Neutral Indiana will show us how to reduce our carbon footprint to make a difference