Helping you care for our land, water, soil, and wildlife
Napa RCD Weekly Activity Digest - 5th Edition

Greetings from Napa RCD!

Earth Day is this week! To be more precise, the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day is this week! More than ever, there's so much to celebrate about our beautiful planet. It's also a great time to reflect on how we all could do a little bit more to take care of our home.

Typically, we like to celebrate Earth Day with a community cleanup. And this year, we are still asking you to join your neighbors in cleaning up...but with a twist.

Cleaner Together - Safer Apart: Let's all make individual efforts on our own to cleanup our neighborhoods and local parks. We can work together while staying a safe physical distance apart. This week's Online & Outside Activity has more info, so keep on reading!

As always, don't forget to share the things you're finding and doing on social media, tagging @NapaRCD and #WILDnapa. We can't wait to see what you're up to!

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Many thanks to the following education and outreach activity sponsors for their support: NOAA, County of Napa, Napa County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, City of Napa, the Watershed Information and Conservation Council, and Friends of the Napa River.
Online & Inside Activities
Happy Earth Day from the Environmental Education Coalition of Napa County , also known as EECNC! Head on over to EarthDayNapa.com to find a suite of environmentally-focused activities, pledges, and information stations brought to you by local organizations and agencies here in Napa County! There are neighborhoods to clean up, bugs to find, designs to create, and so much more.
Online & Outside Activities
Cleaner Together - Safer Apart

As we mentioned before, Napa RCD and partners are hosting our annual Earth Day Cleanup...but with a twist!

We encourage the residents of Napa County to pick up the trash you see when you are out for your daily walks. Remember, picking up the smallest pieces of trash is often the most important thing you can do, otherwise, those little pieces may be eaten by our WILD residents.

We'd also like to know what you're finding. Napa RCD keeps records of how much trash, compost, and recycling materials are found at each of our cleanups. It's an important way for us to keep tabs on sources of current and emerging pollution in our community. YOU can help us stay current on trashy trends by logging what you find in the CleanSwell app . The information is fed into an international database that is available to the public, scientists, and environmental organizations.

What are you waiting for? Download the app, create your account, pick up that trash, and tag us with @NapaRCD, #CleanNapa, and #TrashTag!
Nature Journaling
Forest Karaoke

Spring is a great time of year to observe nature's musical composers- birds! Many of us love hearing birds sing their songs, and some of us enjoy the challenge and reward of identifying birds by the music they make.

Have you ever tried to transcribe a bird's song? Transcribing is the act of writing something down. In this case, we're talking about making a visual representation of a bird's song.

Have a seat, and focus on the bird songs around you. Listen for patterns in song, time, and location. Put your pencil to a page in your journal, and allow your hand to flow with the bird's song. Make up words or phrases that follow the cadence and notes of the song. Listen for the bird that says "cheeseburger." Do any melodies you hear in nature remind you of songs you hear in you favorite playlist or on the radio?
No Tech Needed
Re-use that old Jug!

To make sure our planet is in good shape for our grandchildrens' grandchildren, it's important to reduce how much we consume and throw out as waste. Try turning some seemingly disposable plastic into a durable object like a lunch pail or bird feeder! Here are some great examples from Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships and the Audubon Society of creative ways to keep items out of our was stream.
Weekly Challenge
Steward-in-Place

You can make a positive difference for our current climate situation by doing small, simple tasks. Start tackling climate change in your own home! Working together, our efforts can have real community-wide impacts.


You can also check out the Drawdown Challenge as well as other events on EcoChallenge.org . This website connects our individual actions with collective impact to create environmental and social change.
Weekly Nature Nugget
This week's featured flower lives in Bothe-Napa Valley State Park and is called the Checker Lily, or Fritillaria affinis . You can learn more about this camouflaged wildflower on CalFlora or iNaturalist .
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Napa County Resource Conservation District | 707-252-4189 | NapaRCD.org