Seven local state parks will participate in the annual I Love My Park Day Saturday.
The State Parks System is celebrating its 100th anniversary, a media release said. Volunteer organizations and site managers are making final preparations for the 13th annual I Love My Park Day. The event — organized by Parks & Trails New York and in partnership with the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the state Department of Environmental Conservation — is an annual event “celebrating and enhancing New York’s parks, historic sites, greenway trails and other public lands,” the release said. More than 150 events are scheduled to take place across the state Saturday, providing opportunities for thousands of New Yorkers to clean up their favorite parks and shorelines, plant trees and gardens, restore trails and wildlife habitat, remove invasive species and work on various site improvement projects — all to prepare public lands for the start of the busy spring season.
Local parks that are scheduled to participate in Saturday’s events are:
• Betty & Wilbur Davis State Park at 133 Davis Road in Schenevus. Volunteers are needed from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to put mulch on the playground, do trail maintenance, pick up debris, and improve the cabins and flower beds. All ages are welcome.
• Bowman Lake State Park at 745 Bliven Sherman Road in Oxford. Volunteers are needed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to pick up litter or sticks from the campground sites and trails and stack firewood. All ages are welcome.
• Gilbert Lake State Park at 18 CCC Road in Laurens. Volunteers are needed from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. to paint the outbuilding, bridges and signs; trip and clean trails and roadsides; weed and mulch flower beds; trim bushes; rake leaves and children are needed to test the playground equipment. All ages are welcome.
• Glimmerglass State Park at 1527 county Route 31 in Cooperstown. Volunteers are needed from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the beautification of the park entrance, trail pruning, painting, playground mulching and litter and debris cleanup. All ages are welcome.
• Mine Kill State Park at 161 Minekill Road in North Blenheim. Volunteers are needed from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to mulch and plant the Pollinator Garden, plant flowers in pots and in the garden, clean up trails and paint guardrails and other park amenities. All ages are welcome.
• Oquaga Creek State Park at 5995 county Route 20 in Bainbridge. Volunteers are needed starting at 8 a.m. to clean up the trails and beach. All ages are welcome.
• Rogers Environmental Education Center at 2721 state Route 80 in Sherburne. Volunteers are needed from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to pull garlic mustard and water chestnuts and clear trails. For ages 13 and older.
A forthcoming report commissioned by Parks & Trails New York found New York’s State Park System “continues to be a major anchor for the state economy,” the release said. In terms of GDP, labor income and overall economic importance, the state Park System has a comparable impact to the state agricultural sector: a $3.5 billion contribution annually.
To learn more about I Love My Park Day, or to sign up to volunteer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/4p6sd3vj.