Seth Johnson
Keep Alachua County Beautiful (KACB) will celebrate Earth Day along with its 30th anniversary this Saturday in Micanopy by planting 30 live oak trees in coordination with the Friends of Cuscowilla and Alachua County.
The event will be at Camp Cuscowilla (210 SE 134th Ave Micanopy, FL 32667) from 9 a.m. to noon and have activities for all ages.
KACB will also give away $500 worth of trees to attendees, install a children’s butterfly garden and host tours of the nature retreat center.
Several of the live oak trees will be planted in memory of former KACB directors: Florence Cline, Bob Gasche, Fritzi Olson and Jeanne Rochford. Each of those directors served for more than 10 years.
“The success of KACB is in large part due to the commitment each of these individuals had for preserving the environmental legacy of Alachua County,” Gina Hawkins, executive director of KACB, said in a press release.
KACB has worked in the area through litter cleanup, graffiti removal, tree plantings, community gardens and more over the past three decades.
In April alone, KACB volunteers have collected 400 bags of garbage from a right of way easement that has turned into an illegal dump site, according to the release.
Volunteers have eliminated more than 1,000 bags of trash since the start of 2022.
The City of Gainesville will also give away 15 species of trees to celebrate both Earth Day and Arbor Day on Friday at Northside Park from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The 3-gallon-sized trees are limited to two per household.