Cranberry Township celebrates Earth Day at Community Park
CRANBERRY TWP — Supervisors chairman Mike Manipole gave everyone who attended the Earth Day Celebration at Community Park an unexpected “gift.”
Homework.
“I’m a teacher and I love giving homework,” said the Ryan Gloyer Middle School teacher.
The assignment for residents, give a plant to someone — with a chance for extra credit if the recipient is a stranger.
“When you go to Walmart and you buy a lot of flowers or plants or whatever,” he said. “Find something for somebody else. Take that little tree or little plant and knock on a neighbors door — maybe someone you’ve never seen before or someone you don’t know very well — take it over and say ‘would you mind planting this for me.’”
To kick off the township’s Earth Week festivities, officials and representatives from the Environmental Advisory Committee held an informational session in honor of Earth Day on a stream restoration project at the community park on Monday, April 22. Along with learning about the restoration project, residents participated in a raffle and were given a free backyard habitat starter kit.
Nancy Auer, the administrative assistant for the planning and development services for the township, was responsible for coordinating much of the event and making 50 backyard habitat starter kits, which included five flower bulbs, a pair of gardening gloves and a packet of pollinator seed mix.
“For as much development that goes on around here, this can be the other half to that,” she said. “People can take (the kits) and do something in their backyard. Instead of just mowing and cutting down, it’s something everyone can take part in.”
Keith Mack, 13, said there is a lot to gain from his township celebrating Earth Day.
“If you don’t learn about the environment changing, it could affect you in certain ways,” he said.
From rising temperatures to costly electric bills, taking care of the environment is something people might have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, Keith said.
After hearing several township leaders speak, residents were invited to take a stroll to the community stream restoration project, led by Jim Feath, assistant vice president of the HRG engineering firm.
In 2022, Feath and his firm played a vital role in helping restore the stream that winds its way through the community park.
“Today we talked about some of the fundamentals of not just why we did these types of projects, but also the nuts and bolts that go into this type of project,” Feath said.
He touched on what went into restoring natural stream banks, the importance of restoring curves and turns in streams and about the type of plants chosen to help preserve the steam bank.
“I think it’s good to inform the public as to why this is here and the positive impacts projects like this will have,” Feath said.
On Wednesday, students from Haine Middle School will be co-hosting with Tim Schutzman, waterworks coordinator of engineering and environmental services for Cranberry Township, an informational session on water conversation that will include practical guidance on how to efficiently use a rain barrel.
The event will be at the Franklin Station Room in the municipal center from 6 to 7 p.m. Registration is $40 and includes a rain barrel.
Residents can register over the phone by calling 724-776-4806 or in person at the municipal center.
