CIB seeks volunteers to assist with Planting Day at Poplar Thicket Sept. 21
Join other volunteers for a Planting Day at the Marian R. Okie Memorial Wildlife Preserve at Poplar Thicket in Millsboro on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 9 a.m. until noon.
This 226-acre property, a mix of farmland, forest, and tidal marsh on the north shore of the Indian River, was recently donated to the people of Delaware and is slated to be a bird sanctuary. Volunteers are needed to lend a hand in planting 2,000 seedling trees, grasses and shrubs.
Volunteers interested in helping with the planting should contact Bart Wilson at science@inlandbays.org or call 302-670-7737 to register to participate. Volunteers are asked to bring gloves and shovels or trowels if possible. Some equipment will be provided.
The Preserve is managed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Division of Fish and Wildlife. The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays is planning habitat restoration to attract and support a variety of bird species at the site. Over the coming months and years, the CIB will continue restoration of the property, planting trees, shrubs, and grasses, enhancing degraded wetlands, and controlling invasive plants.
This event marks the beginning of restoration on the property, and is one event in the schedule marking Sea Level Rise Awareness Week in Delaware Sept. 14-22 www.sosdelaware.org.
The Marian R. Okie Memorial Wildlife Preserve at Poplar Thicket is on Long Neck Road (the road to Massey’s Landing) four-and-a-half miles east of the intersection of Route 24 (John J. Williams Highway) and Long Neck Road. The turn for the preserve is on the right, one mile after the intersection of White House Road. Signs will be posted on the gravel road to the parking area on the day of the planting.
The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays is a non-profit organization established in 1994 to promote the wise use and enhancement of the Inland Bays Watershed through habitat protection and restoration, science and research, education and outreach and public policy.
For more information call Sally Boswell at 302-226-8105, or email at outreach@inlandbays.org, or, go www.inlandbays.org.
