Annual Earth Day at GoG Visitor Center, Rock Ledge Ranch April 21
April 5, 2018; updated April 10In keeping with tradition, Earth Day activities will be offered at both the Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center and Rock Ledge Ranch Historic Site Saturday,
During a chilly Earth Day in April 2017, Pat Ford
(left) and James Carstensen of City Forestry and John Winters of the Rock Ledge
Ranch Historic Site plant "gold rush" apple trees in a ranch orchard. In the upper
right background is the prominent "granddaddy" apple tree that dates back to the
late 1800s.
Westside Pioneer file photo
|
The event is free.
The center and ranch are on either side of North 30th Street at Gateway Road.
The day will start off with a cleanup of the Garden. Volunteer registration will be at the center, 1805 N. 30 St., with signups from 8:30 to 9 a.m. Update April 10: Free lunches have been given to cleanup volunteers in the past, but not this year, according to Bret Tennis, Colorado Springs Parks' operations administrator for the Garden of the Gods.
Earth Day activities at the center will include Indian dancers, a "chemical magic" show, small animals from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, nature walks and more than 30 environmentally related booths/stations, offering demonstrations, and crafts (inside and outside).
At the ranch, the site will be open, including the historic houses and the blacksmith shop.
Because of the likelihood of large attendance (up to 4,000 is typical), people are asked to park in the larger lot outside Rock Ledge Ranch, with a shuttle running back and forth between it and the center.
Westside Pioneer article
(Outdoors:
Garden of the Gods)
Would you like to respond to this article? The Westside Pioneer welcomes letters at editor@westsidepioneer.com. (Click here for letter-writing criteria.)