To celebrate Earth Day, Fairy Stone State Park and other Virginia state parks will host special events from April 19–26 to highlight the importance of conservation and sustainability.
The events will take place at Shelters 3 and 4 in the park.
Beginning Saturday, April 19, Park Ranger Brian O’Kefe said there will be a talk about the park’s trees from 10 to 11 a.m., followed by a discussion on native plants and pollinators from 11 a.m. to noon.
Guests can craft their own seed bombs from noon to 1 p.m. The seed bombs can be used to help revegetate and regreen local areas.
“Then the Fairystone Volunteer Fire Department will be coming out later that afternoon” from 2 to 3 p.m., “doing a talk on safe practices on fires and dealing with wildfires in general,” O’Kefe said.
On Sunday, April 20, guests will be able to participate in another Earth Day-themed craft by making little fairies out of materials found along the trails from 2 to 3 p.m. A talk about the park’s “fungal friends” will follow from 3 to 4 p.m.
“That next Saturday, the 26th, we’re doing another talk on trees. Then we’ll be having a volunteer program where folks will be coming out here helping us remove invasive plants from some of our trails,” he said.
O’Kefe estimates 60 to 100 people will attend the events.
“A few of these events I know we’ve been doing for the past three or four years as an Earth Day celebration in general. A lot of these events, especially the one with the volunteer cleanup and the crafting, is brand new this year,” he said.
For more information, call (276) 930-2424 or visit www.virginiastateparks.gov.
