By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – This Friday, April 22, is Earth Day, and several organizations have events planned.
North Olympic Land Trust will be celebrating their 14th Annual Conservation Breakfast at 9:00am Friday. It’s a virtual event this year, with special guest speaker Dr. Robert Pyle, the famed lepidopterist. His Audubon Society Field Guide to the Butterflies of North America was the first to cover the entire fauna and it is still in print and widely used after 40 years.
They’ll also be handing out their annual ‘Out Standing in the Field’ Award, which this year will honor local photographer and videographer John Gussman.
To register for this free event, visit northolympiclandtrust.org.
An Earth Day Celebration is planned at the Port Angeles City Pier on Saturday from 11:00am-1:00pm.
The event will include music from The Lost Trio, playing blues and Americana. Speakers will include Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias, addressing the climate crisis, and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Chairman Ron Allen, on critically endangered salmon and orcas. The event will also include a 1:15 presentation on electric vehicles by Olympic Climate Action’s Tony Billera in the Fiero Marine Center.
More than a dozen groups and organizations will have informational tables.
Washington Coast Cleanup, sponsored by Washington CoastSavers, is happening on Saturday as well, beach cleanups across the North Olympic Peninsula. An Ediz Hook beach cleanup at Harborview Park will begin registering volunteers at 1:30 with the cleanup beginning at 2:00, sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation.
Also Saturday, stop by North Olympic Land Trust’s Lyre Conservation Area for a group children’s scavenger hunt from 10:30-11:00am, being led by the North Olympic Library System. Registration is required. Visit nols.org/earth-day.
And on Friday, President Joe Biden will make his first trip to Seattle since his inauguration to discuss his administration’s efforts to continue growing the country’s clean energy economy, as well as bringing down costs for families.
(Photo: Dr. Robert Pyle)