Public invited to participate in 'green' events

Editor:

The environmental focus is on Columbia County this month. There are three events:

The first is our Great American Cleanup, sponsored by Metro Augusta and Columbia County Clean and Beautiful, culminating on March 29. Details on this are being sent to Adopt-a-Highway volunteers. We hope that those volunteers look for select hot spots in addition to their regular assignments, to give Columbia County a fresher, new look. Metro Augusta will have more to say on this event later.

A new initiative, by Columbia Countys Clean and Beautiful Committee, is to press forward with its own Adopt-a-Stream program to identify citizens who would like to volunteer their efforts. Each month a team takes a chemical assay, and every quarter, biological assessments. In may there will be a stream cleanup effort. We expect to have information tables at the Evans Wal-Mart Saturday.

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The Georgia Botanical Society has scheduled mostly native wildflower walks in the metropolitan Augusta area on April 4, 5 and 6. The enrollment deadline has passed, but I will be happy to provide the public with walks to observe the more common urban wildflowers (yes, weeds) native and otherwise, as I have done for a decade.

Persons interested in any of these activities should contact Metro Augusta Clean and Beautiful at 261-4390 or see us at the information table Saturday at Evans Wal-Mart.

John Graham

Evans

(John Graham is coordinator of Adopt-a-Stream and Adopt-a-Highway programs for Metro Augusta and Columbia County Clean and Beautiful.)