MAKE EARTH DAY ‘A PICNIC FOR THE PLANET’ APRIL 22 AT BOTANICAL CENTER

“It will be a picnic for the planet,” said Katie Steinhoff, coordinator of the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center about plans for Earth Day from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Friday, April 22.

The free event at the Botanical Center in Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park includes creative critter crafts made from recycled materials. Visitors can pack lunches or buy sandwiches and other food items at the Botanical Boutique and Marketplace in the atrium.

“You can make it a no-waste lunch,” says Steinhoff, by using the recycling bins and vermicomposting stations on the south plaza and roof plaza. The vermicomposting stations employ earthworms to decompose waste.

You can be among the first to test-ride the new solar cell-powered tram on its maiden voyage as it circles the 114-acre public park and arboretum in southwest Springfield. Beginning at noon until 2 p.m., the 20-seat tram will follow a paved trail that provides access to the more than two dozen gardens designed, created and maintained by volunteers with Friends of the Garden and other organizations.

A new segment of the asphalt trail, 810 feet long and 20 feet wide, is a recently completed joint Friends of the Garden and Springfield-Greene County Parks Department project. The trail, adjacent to the Kickapoo Edge Prairie where grasses, wildflowers, birds and insects emulate the richness and diversity of  tallgrass prairie, connects the parking lot of the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden to the South Creek Greenway Trail.

Formed in 1998, the nonprofit Friends of the Garden with more than 650 members was instrumental in the founding of the Botanical Center. Tax-deductible $25 annual memberships and contributions to the Friends of the Garden Growth and Maintenance Fund can be mailed to P.O. Box 8566, Springfield, Missouri 65801. For more information call 417.891.1650.