To All Our Earth Day Volunteers:

Our Earth Day 2001 family day event was a resounding success! I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for all the time and hard work you dedicated to this project. The show could not have gone on without every single one of you. Kudos all the way around! I am amazed at how everyone took their piece of this project and proceeded to make it happen - what we are able to accomplish when we "take the ball and run with it"!!!

I would like to extend special thanks to everyone listed below:

Special thanks to Dan Smith and his wife Pat for the unbridled enthusiasm and support they have both shown for our project. It doesn't get any better than this!

Special thanks also to Bob Aldrich, Patricia Strickland and Bob Yetner in providing their support as well as the funding required in making this project a huge success.

Thanks also to the Media Solutions folks for all their hard work in getting the word out about our great day - Beth Chodkowski, Heather McKenna, Joe Lawrence, Tom Murphy, Muriel Baptista, Bob Taylor and Dave Burns. The pictures, PowerPoint slides for the broadcast CBS and posters were superb.

Special thanks to Joe Lawrence and Tom Murphy for all their help with the conference center equipment.

Thanks to Chuck Larrabee for his assistance in publicizing this event for the local media. Our team is certainly getting known around town!

A hearty thank you to Mike, Kay, Greta and Rob of Eurest for doing such a great job with the refreshments - they were great!

Many thanks to everyone who took care of all the kids' activities:

- Beth Chodkowski and her children Casey and Mitchell for the coloring books
- Diana Ukleja and Tom Jones for the Eco-Treasure hunt
- Trish Morrissette and Pat Smith for the flower pot painting
- Sue Carinha and Maria Alves for the herb garden planting
- Ed Rizy and his boy scouts for the bird nesting box building
- Ron Franklin for all the miles he put on installing the nesting boxes!
- Lynne Kern for coordinating many of these efforts

Special thanks also for all of you who donated prizes to give away at the Eco-Treasure hunt including Trish Morrissette's gift of a gardening set, and the gift from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife of their mascot bear, provided by Heather McKenna.

Many thanks to Ed Coombs who donated the spruce and fir tree seedlings for kids of all ages to take home and plant in their yards.

Thanks also to Dana Filippini and her son Juno for the beautiful hummingbird garden now gracing the entrance to the Providence Building that Dana designed and installed for us. Many thanks to those who chose to "play in the dirt" that day - Bob Yetner, Edgar Ortiz, Sondra Spencer and friends, and Brenda Bibb.

A big thank you to Ed Coombs and Guy Harris of the tree planting team, which was headed up by Rich, a member of Matt's crew from Largess Forestry, and his son Louis.

Matt Largess deserves a very special "thank you" for his gifts of two more Meta Sequoia trees as well as five yellow birches and ten American beeches, which were planted along the trails.

Many thanks to Diana Ukleja and her Fall River Fipple Fluters for providing their beautiful recorder music during the course of the day.

Thank you to Steve Tamburro and his Goodwill team for providing the means for our book swap as well as the incentive to do some spring cleaning!

Many thanks to Winnie Andrew for keeping the book swap organized thoughout the course of the day - what a job!

Thanks also to Harry Mutter for his time and expertise in conducting guided walks though the beautiful trail that he built for us over the past year.

Thank you to John Ort and his daughter Jennifer for their excellent exhibit on the history of our site and the educational presentation that John provided in the conference center.

Many thanks to Veronica Hinds and her team from Norman Bird Sanctuary, who provided
us with an excellent natural history exhibit, led groups on guided bird walks through the trails, and advised us on the proper placement of our nesting boxes.

A very special thank you to Greg Rueb, Henry Rodrigues, Dave Marani and their maintenance crews who did such a great job setting up the facilities for us and getting us ready for our big day.

And last but not least, thank you Bill Saslow - the driving force behind this whole event as well as this whole project - what would we do without you? Your contributions are far too numerous to list here. Thanks for everything.

WHAT A TEAM!!!!!!! The things we are able accomplish if everyone just takes a part. I am truly proud to be one of a group of people who have demonstrated such a great sense of dedication, enthusiasm, talent and volunteerism. You're the best!

I know there must be folks out there that I did not mention who worked behind the scenes to make this day such a great success, and I wish to thank all of you as well. Let me know who you are so I can properly acknowledge you!

Before I close there is one last item I would like to mention - check out the latest Guest Book entry in the website! As I said, it doesn't get any better than this.

Happy Trails,

Beth Ripa
REWHC Team Lead

Earth Day 2001 seedling planting

The seedling planting went very well. We installed three American Beech and two Yellow Birch on the Woodland Wander trail. We also placed ten seedlings at the Magnetic Lab. These are located around the building along the brush line. Several were placed next to the new bird houses.

I returned on Sunday to water and mulch the plants that receive full sun. I also placed a bamboo marker stake with a yellow flag at each tree. Hopefully this will keep them from getting mowed down.

The plants that Matt supplied were very healthy, vigorous 1 gallon seedlings. There were 10 American Beech and 5 Yellow Birch. Both of these are natives and were an excellent choice for our project.

The free Spruce and Fir seedlings for the kids went well also. There were only 4 left at the end of the day.

REWHC -- You just knock me out. So many volunteers, ideas and energy; everyone came and the day was a great success. I think the kids that were there are going to grow up to be tomorrows stewards, we really did good.

Ed, saw the new tree plantings, both at the Mag Lab and Woodland Wander. Great job! Hopefully the yellow flag wands will protect them from the mowers and maybe even the deer and rabbits ("Yellow birch is preferred browse for White Tail deer and the bark is eaten by cottentail rabbits." Friday, four doe were actually seen near the lab.) Sorry that I had a scheduled walk and had to miss the planting. You successfully followed my sketchy clues and made an excellent placement.

Both my Saturday trail groups commented favorably on what you and Guy did and then again on Monday when I met with the Parson Gray Preserve group at the sitting rock, more positive feedback. (They are building a trail network that will link with Weetemoo (sp?) Woods and have asked us for a technical walk of Woodland Wander and a critique/advise on their efforts.) I am incorporating the trees into my talk because they represent the climax forrest that will eventually takeover the woodlands.

Today Winifred and I raked (scratched the soil) in the same area as the sitting rock plantings and scattered wildflower seed that had been provided at last years Earth Day and another conservation event. We stepped the seeds in but had no water to add so we are hoping for an overnight rain.

I was watering our new Earth Day seedlings on Sunday. The Birches on the Woodland Wander Trail don't seem to be doing as well as the Birches at the Mag Lab. Could it be the heavy shade along the trail? Are deer munching on them? Does anyone have any suggestions?

They all got a shot of organic fertilizer a couple of weeks ago. The Beeches in the same location seem to be doing well.