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OFAH FILE: 842 |
For immediate release |
O.F.A.H. hosts third annual Earth Week event
Area schools onboard for conservation effort in Cobourg
Media invited to cover this rain or shine environmental event, offering photo and interview opportunities. BBQ lunch at Cobourg Conservation Area.
The third annual Earth Week/Pitch In event organized by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H.) and its partners is scheduled for Friday, April 17, 2009. Eighty high school students will help clean up several kilometers of shoreline from Peace Park to Elgin Street, release 160 Atlantic salmon yearlings into the Cobourg Brook, and plant approximately 300 trees on Dale Road.
The participating students attend Cobourg District Collegiate Institute East, Cobourg District Collegiate Institute West and Holy Cross Secondary School (Peterborough). Staff from the O.F.A.H., Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, Town of Cobourg, and the Ministry of Natural Resources will also be on hand to help out.
Volunteers will congregate at Peace Park and move northward along the brook, to finish at Elgin Street. A BBQ lunch will be held at the Cobourg Conservation Area there. After lunch, the students will be bussed to the tree-planting site off Dale Road.
BACKGROUND:
The Lake Ontario Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program (L.O.A.S.R.P.) and the Community Stream Steward Program are initiatives of the O.F.A.H., Ontario"s largest private, nonprofit fish and wildlife conservation-based organization. Each of the programs has done considerable work in the Cobourg area to restore and enhance coldwater stream habitat, resulting in improved fish habitat. Beginning in 2006, the L.O.A.S.R.P. has also been working to bring back locally extinct Atlantic salmon to a self-sustaining wild population over the next 15-20 years.
EVENT DETAILS:
| Date: | Friday, April 17, 2009 |
| Time: | 9 AM until mid-afternoon |
| Locations: | Cobourg, just east of Toronto, off Hwy 401 9 AM Peace Park (on Forth St. south off of King St.) LUNCH at Cobourg Conservation Area (Elgin St. off Burnham St.) 1 PM Tree planting off Dale Rd., south side, west of Hwy 45 |
ONSITE MEDIA SUPPORT:
Chris Robinson, Atlantic Salmon Program Coordinator 705-748-6324, ext 237,cell 705-761-1276
Matt Burley, L.O.A.S.R.P. Stream Steward Liaison 705-748-6324, ext 251, cell: 705-761-0108
Erin Carroll, Community Stream Steward Program Coordinator 705-748-6324, ext 222
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Lezlie Goodwin, Communications Coordinator, 705-748-6324 ext 270,
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