News from New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

For more information contact: Lisa Silvestri, 585-226-5326

DEC Region 8 Commemorates Earth Day

ALBANY, NY (04/21/2008; 1557)(readMedia)-- Every day is Earth Day at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). With 18 different divisions and nine regional offices, DEC is in the streams, the streets, the woods and the halls of government working to enhance the health and safety of New Yorkers, as well as the state’s environment and natural resources.

Officially, Earth Day is April 22, a day to celebrate our planet and take will be receiving $476,950 in state grants under DEC’s Brownfield Opportpart in activities beneficial to the environment. But Earth Day-related events will be ongoing throughout the spring. They include:

• Region 8 Natural Resources staff from the Division of Lands and Forests will be attending two tree planting events on Friday, April 25: Brockport, Monroe County, from 10 a.m. until noon on Fayette St.; and Bath, Steuben County, at Pultney Park at 11 a.m., in honor of their Tree City status;

• Regional fisheries staff are sponsoring two free fishing clinics. The first one will take place Thursday, May 22, from 8 a.m. to noon at Powder Mill Park in Monroe County. The second will take place Saturday, August 2, as part of the Town of Murray’s bicentennial celebration. For more information, contact: Webster Pearsall at 585-226-5339.

To commemorate Earth Day 2008, DEC Region 8 Director Paul D’Amato also highlighted the following events and efforts the agency has taken in recent weeks:

• DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis sent letters to seven municipalities in Region 8 advising them that they unity Area Program to aid these communities in the restoration of contaminated areas. The recipients include: the towns of Penfield, Irondequoit and Erwin; the cites of Rochester and Elmira; and the villages of Painted Post and Riverside.

• Commissioner Grannis announced grants to land trust organizations across the state to aid in the protection of valuable lands, including $38,000 to local organizations. Recipients include the Genesee Land Trust; the Chenango Land Trust; the Genesee Valley Conservancy; and the Central and Western New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.

• The recent establishment of the innovative Pollution Prevention Institute at RIT provides resources to achieve improved sustainability and the reduction in the generation of waste and the use of toxic chemicals in industry. More information can be found at www.dec.ny.gov/public/37292.html .

• Natural Resources staff continue their efforts to conserve open space in high priority areas such as the High -Tor, Braddock Bay and Montezuma Wildlife Management Areas and Fishing Access Sites along Lake Ontario and Finger Lakes region. Recent acquisitions by DEC at The Bare Hill and Junius Ponds Unique Areas will forever protect these environmentally valuable areas and the habitat and recreational opportunities they provide. Region 8's open space planning process, with a committee comprised of volunteers from the region’s 11 counties, will recommend and prioritize land acquisitions for the future protection of environmentally valuable areas .

• Region 8 is finalizing the establishment of a “Green Team” which will consist of DEC staff. The Green Team will coordinate with other DEC offices to implement measures to not only make the regional office more environmentally responsible, but eventually will add a public education and outreach component .

Earth Day History

United States Senator Gaylord Nelson is credited with the founding of Earth Day. After years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade the federal government to add environmental concerns to its agenda, Senator Nelson announced at a conference that there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration in the spring of 1970 on behalf of the environment, and he invited everyone to participate. His call met a tremendous response.

Twenty million demonstrators and thousands of schools and local communities across the country participated. Environmental awareness and activism has grown in the 38 years since that first Earth Day, spawning both businesses and government agencies. Children now routinely learn about the environment in school, and colleges and universities confer degrees in environmental sciences.

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