April 22nd is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day! And we want to celebrate! Even in this time of social distancing we can join together in community through loving and tending the earth!

Since the weather is looking a little iffy for Wednesday the 22nd. IF you’d like to do your hour for the earth anytime between April 18th and the 22nd feel free! Register before the 22nd so we can count your work in our community tally and take a snap shot of what you do whenever you do it and send it to us on the 22nd.

Here’s how it will work:

1. Pick an Earth Day activity. It can be anything you want that benefits the Earth. We include some ideas and resources in this blog post below. It must be at least an hour but can be longer if you’d like.
2. Go here and register now to pledge your hour for the earth so we can keep track of how many of us are participating.
3. Registration is free. During registration you have the option to donate to Vashon Nature Center. For every $22 (get it?) you donate you will get one entry into the drawing for a kayap trip offered by Vashon Adventures!
4. Anytime between April 18-22 (Earth Day) do your activity!
5. You can post a photo of your activity on Instagram #vashonnaturecenter or on our Facebook group or you can email it to us: wonder@vashonnaturecenter.org
6. At the end of the day we will draw the winners out of a hat and announce the total numbers of hours worked for the Earth by our awesome community!

Some things you can do for the Earth at home:

Whatever you decide to do please respect closed areas and social distancing guidelines.

1. Pull noxious weeds on your property or alongside the roadside near where you live. King County Noxious weeds has a list of weeds that could really use removal. For Vashon here are some likely candidates: English ivy, Shiny geranium, Scotch Broom, Himalayan blackberry, tansy ragwort. You can look up what they look like on the King County Noxious Weeds site and also learn about them.
2. Plant pollinator friendly plants in your landscape. This takes a little planning so start researching now. Here are some good resources: Bee friendly gardening, Selecting plants for pollinators: a comprehensive guide, Xerces Society Plants for Pollinators in the Maritime Pacific Northwest
3. Clean up trash in your yard or neighborhood. Read these safety tips.
4. Clean up trash on your favorite beach! Tips: use a bucket rather than a trash bag, easier to carry and no extra waste! Small trash matters! Make sure to look for those tiny little plastic bits, they may be small but they are dangerous to all sorts of marine organisms that accidentally eat them. Respect social distancing and avoid closed areas.
5. Make or install nestboxes or pollinator habitat. Please use approved plans like these to avoid encouraging non-native species. Nest box guide–Birds, Nest box guide-Bats, Pollinator nesting habitat guides
6. Join the University of Washington Bird Survey tracking impact of COVID closures on nesting birds.
7. Download iNaturalist’s seek app that uses AI to help identify species. Do a backyard biodiversity survey and post your photos on iNaturalist. They will automatically contribute to Vashon Nature Center’s Vashon Biodiversity Project and the combined international effort we are participating in to catalog the Biodiversity of the entire Salish Sea.

Have more suggestions? Share with us in the comments!

We are looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! Have fun!

Featured photo: Participants of all ages participate in a Vashon Nature Center Bioblitz species survey. Photo by: Susie Fitzhugh