Wallamet Valley Environmental Center Invites Your Energy by Peter Moore
The Willamette Valley is our home. Whether you are born to it, or come to it, the Valley is a special place for all of us. Its fertility sustains us and its beauty is an inspiration. Once described as the “Eden at the end of the Oregon Trail,” it has changed dramatically since the arrival of American settlers 150 years ago. Today, the Salem-Keizer area continues to experience enormous growth, with all the resulting pressures on land, water, and air quality. An additional 25,000 more people are expected to move to our city by the year 2000. Given the real and potential impacts to the natural environment from such growth, our region will greatly benefit from a center where people can get involved in local environmental issues, and learn about recycling, composting, organic agriculture, and many other related subjects. These educational activities will help our community evolve toward a more sustainable future.
The Wallamet Valley Environmental Center is an ongoing project in need of our community’s support. You are invited to help put into practice the ways of wise stewardship of natural resources, and to teach these ways to our children, who in turn will be guides into the next century, and for future generations.
All segments of the community—families, schools, outdoor recreation groups, youth groups, environmental organizations, business, and government—are invited to the Wallamet Valley Environmental Center. The Environmental Center’s exhibits will be challenging for adults, yet interesting and interactive for children. They will include cultural and historical themes, as well as the environmental themes discussed above. Workshops, speakers, films, and outdoor activities will be coordinated with special and seasonal events.
This is the time for the Center to expand its base in the community and develop the programs that will set the standard for educational involvement into the new millennium. To get involved, please call 399-6322 or 361-2379.
The Wallamet Environmental Center . . . “promoting a community spirit of conservation and ecological awareness.”
Peter Moore is co-creator of Alternatives. He lives in Salem.
