Transportation theme at Earth Week event

Talk about it

SPRING VALLEY—This year’s theme for the annual Spring in the Valley event to be held at the private, non-profit Silkesnas Nature Preserve is “Transportation—the Ways Plants, Animals and Humans Get Around!”

The event will be on Sunday, April 25, from 1-5 p.m. All programs are held outdoors and walking on natural terrain of light difficulty is required. Visitors should plan to spend 2-3 hours to take in all of the activities, including viewing the natural beauty of the area, and visiting with and learning from the various subject matter experts volunteering at the preserve.

This year, visitors will get to meet specialists discussing transportation issues faced by the various plants and animals in the natural environment, as well as the ones humans face, everything from exploring one of the most amazing migrations on earth (that is also critical to the food supply) to the changing forest landscape to the SMART philosophy of building automobiles.

The Pedalers for Progress, a bicycling advocacy group, will be at the event to share their adventures in short and long distance bicycle travel. Transportation Networks on site will feature a local area discussion on how communities can plan and invest in interconnected transportation routes improving citizen health and quality of life, revitalizing the core of a community and increasing tourism traffic. Representatives from International Motorwerks, La Crosse, will bring a new NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle) for visitor inspection.

The local vendor market in the visitor center will be open during the entire afternoon. Breads, soaps, jewelry, meats, coffee and music CDs will all be available for purchase there.

The preserve is located at N7967/N7971 CTH CC, one mile west of Spring Valley on Hwy. 29, then 1/3 mile south on CC. For more information, see www.silkesnas.org.

Tags: home and garden, spring valley, lifestyle, health, entertainment