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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 21, 2005 Park promotes sustainability By Denise Baratta Ashland Daily Tidings All creatures great and small may be seen dancing and singing this weekend at Ashland’s North Mountain Park. Jim Duncan examines a bud's progress during a recent survey of spring blooming patterns in North Mountain Park. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings In honor of life on Earth, children and adults dressed as plants and animals will circle through the park together in a procession of art and music to celebrate wildlife, culminating in a community dance circle. The gathering is one of many new events available during Saturday’s Fourth Annual Earth Day festivities. The “Together for Tomorrow” theme of Earth Day 2005 is intended to encourage community members to not only celebrate but to learn to become better stewards of the environment. In addition to the All Species Parade and dance, food, music, games and a bicycle rodeo, there will be tree pruning and natural building demonstrations, and a solar raffle and silent auction to promote the park’s shift to natural energy. The new events are meant to mirror the ever-changing way the Nature Center and park are evolving. “A few ways we have changed is that our new goal is to model sustainability,” said park stewardship coordinator Linda Chesney. “The goal was always there in some form initially. Now we are putting it in place.” Worm composting, organic gardening techniques and demonstration gardens are just some of the things in place, with the next step being a movement toward alternative energy uses such as solar power. The North Mountain Park Nature Center is a great location for a solar electric demonstration system for a variety of reasons, said Chesney. “Since the Nature Center’s mission is to provide educational programs and practical examples that both teach and model sustainability, the solar system will help promote good environmental stewardship through the use of clean renewable energy and promote the use of similar systems throughout the region.” The grid-tied photovoltaic system will be placed on the park’s garden pavilion roof where classes are held, making it visible by a variety of park visitors, including school groups, surrounding neighborhood residents and people from throughout the region who come to the park to participate in educational programs and events. The solar project plan calls for installation of a 750 watt grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) system. Energy generated by the system will be first used within the Nature Center and the surplus power will be pushed onto the city’s utility wires. The PV modules or solar panels collect the solar energy, and the utility-interactive inverter converts the DC power from the PV array to standard AC power and synchronizes that power with the city’s electricity. The panels are planned for installation this fall. A new monitoring program of spring buds was enacted this month as another way to increase environmental stewardship at the park. Chesney and several community volunteers, including plant specialists and biologists, combed the park, examining 18 varieties of native trees and shrubs. The buds of each species were closely examined for such variables as leaf formation, seed growth, dormancy and pollination rates. “The idea was to collect information about the phenology, or state of growth, during the spring season to establish trends over time and how they relate to climate,” said participant Jim Duncan. The data will be collected on the same plants on the same day each year for what is expected to be many years of study, to see how climate affects plants in Southern Oregon. Such long-term studies have been conducted in Britain for 25 years, Duncan said, and they are finding the seasons are starting earlier. “We don’t know what we will find here,” said Duncan, “but we expect we’ll be able to determine some trends.” The data will eventually be made available to be used by government agencies, schools and other scientists. Saturday’s free celebration is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The parade begins at 2 p.m. People are encouraged to wear masks and costumes but written words, live animals and motorized vehicles are prohibited from the procession. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Women's & Men's Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation home equity loans teleconferencing W2 Forms Tatoos student loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Tatoo Poker Games Homeschooling Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams