Revelers converged on Discovery Park in Pahrump to celebrate the awareness of the changing Earth early Saturday morning.
This year, officials paired Earth Day with Arbor Day, as participants planted trees, cooked food in solar ovens and participated in various demonstrations at the former Willow Creek Golf Course.
“This is all about saving our planet for future generations, taking some ownership for it, and not just saying it’s somebody else’s job. It’s our job to sustain this planet,” said John Pawlak, one of the organizers of the event.
While the Arbor Day Society raffled off trees planted in one-gallon containers, the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension provided tips on how to plant trees and take care of them.
Several organizations offered educational activities for children such as coloring, crafts and interactive demonstrations.
Also present were the Nature Conservancy, Amargosa Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Red Rock Audubon Society, Great Basin Water Company and Nevada Hemp Association.
“We are networking with all different groups whether they be state, federal or local groups, and also getting some better dialogue as to what we can do here to make our own valley better,” Pawlak said.
Red Rock Audubon Society has a memorandum of agreement with the Great Basin Water Company that allows it to work on remediation of an area in Discovery Park.
Death Valley National Park’s exhibit featured animals that live in the desert environment such as the desert tortoise, bighorn sheep and coyotes.
Andres Bustamante, park ranger at Death Valley National Park, said it was his first outreach event.
“I want just some appreciation overall of wildlife that you can find here, just how adaptable they are to pretty extreme environments for the most part,” he said.
Earth Day was observed on April 22 across the world. This year’s Earth Day was combined with global teach-ins and the March for Science that took place around the U.S. including Las Vegas.
Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77