Local Kids "Going Green"The East Hampton Public Library has been chosen to receive a $1,000 Greening and Growing Middlesex County Grant from the Rockfall Foundation in Middletown, Connecticut. This grant will enable the library to offer a year-long series of "Fribrary Time" programs to our community's fourth and fifth graders; each program will feature an environmental theme.
Core Program : Lake Pocotopaug Buffer Garden
Grant funding will be used to plant a small buffer garden located in Sears Park. The buffer garden will feature native plants beneficial in a lakeside setting. Selected plants discourage geese or help absorb storm runoff and capture phosphorus and nitrogen, which feed weeds and algae. The planting program is offered by the library in collaboration with East Hampton Parks & Recreation and the East Hampton Belltown Garden Club.
Calling All Fourth & Fifth Graders!
You can help do your part to protect Lake Pocotopaug on Saturday, July 31st. Beginning at 9:00 a.m., you'll work with members of the East Hampton Belltown Garden Club to plant the buffer garden. You will learn about landscaping layout, the benefits of certain kinds of plants, the issues involved when working in an environmentally sensitive area, and safety issues as well.
The program is limited to ten children; click here to register. Wear comfortable clothes, shoes, and inexpensive gardening gloves. If you have a small watering can or small plastic bucket, bring it along; we'll be watering plants using lake water. Parents are encouraged to participate.
Moving Forward
Though our Rockfall Grant will help our park and our lake, don't forget to sign up for other planned "green" programs which we will offer under the "Rockfall" umbrella. Join us for a field trip to Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority's Trash Museum in Hartford on August 13 and check our our Community Planning program held in cooperation with the UCONN Center for Transportation and Urban Planning on August 27.
Similarly themed "green programs" will continue through June 2011. We'll keep you posted.
Surf's Up
East Hampton Conservation/Lake Commission
Friends of Lake Pocotopaug
Post developed by Kathleen Sands
