MILWAUKEE — On this Earth Day, it's important to get outside and touch some grass. Water is also cool if that's more of your style. Or, you could be like one group of teenagers and get your hands dirty by planting trees and picking up trash.
“But a ton of stuff has washed up because the river overflowed with all the storms we had last week," Landrie Hess, an Earth Day volunteer, said.
The 17-year-old was with a group of students from Wisconsin Virtual Learning at the Westabrook Trail. It's directly across from Estabrook Park. In just a few hours, they were able to collect multiple garbage bags full of trash and plant 150 trees.
“We're doing this to help the environment, help native trees grow for the native animals that live over here," Hess said.
Watch the story to see the cleanup and some of the trees that were planted...
As Mother Nature rises from her deep winter slumber, it's the polite thing to do to make the place a little nicer for when she wakes up.
“So I also just love helping the environment and making sure everything is going to be good for our future," Hess said.
The event was organized by Restoring Lands: A Wisconsin Land Trust.
“(Tree) roots are so important to sustain the soil rather than have big washouts when we have big flooding," Catie Petralia, the communications and outreach coordinator for Restoring Lands, said. "Really, like, provide so much life for every type of creature out here, bugs, squirrels, rodents, birds.”
In total, about 30 volunteers came out to help restore and clean up the area next to the Milwaukee River. Petralia hopes that this kind of event inspires more people to get involved in environmental preservation.
“Really builds that connection with nature, and we want people to really value the green spaces that they have around them," Petralia said.
You can get involved with Restoring Lands by going to its website.
So happy Earth Day, and shout out to Mother Nature for being the greatest rock in our Solar System that we get to call home!
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