Earth Days 2023

LVC’s Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee will celebrate the 53rd Anniversary of Earth Day by hosting events throughout the month of April.

Earth Days 2023 Events

9–11 a.m.

Care for our campus by helping with a spring clean-up/mulching day with LVC’s Office of Community Service & Volunteerism and Facilities Services.  

Sign-up on Redbook.

12–1 p.m. | NG-203

  • Evelyn Dyer (ENVI ’23) – NSF LAKES REU at Wisconsin 
  • Jess Koch (ENVI ’23) – DCNR Forestry Intern 
  • Jake Beidler (ENVI ’23) – Multiple Element Limitation in Northern Hardwood Ecosystems Project in New Hampshire 
  • Rachel Helt (BIO, ENVI minor ’23) – The Wetlands Institute 
  • Shelby Guinard (ENVI ’23) – Conservation Crew with Concord, MA 

12–1 p.m. | NG-203

  • Daelyn Stabler (BIO, ENVI minor ’23) – Animal Collections Intern at the National Aviary 
  • Emily Rouse (ACS CHM & ENVI ’23) – Mississippi State University NSF REU: Food, Energy, and Water Security & Ft. Indiantown Gap Environmental Compliance Internship 
  • Jacquelyn McBride (ACS CHM & ENG ’24) – University of Connecticut Avery Point and Mystic Aquarium REU Program.  
  • Ben Smith (BCMB & ENVI ‘24) – Forestry Field Technician at Purdue University 
  • Ilyssa McLaughlin (ENVI ’24) – Humpback whales & Hawaii 

3–5 p.m.

LVC’s Sustainability House is sponsoring a campus-wide spring clean-up/mulching day with LVC’s Office of Community Service & Volunteerism and Facilities Services.  

Sign-up on Redbook.

10 a.m.–2 p.m. | Game Time Fun Center Parking Lot, 10 S. 22nd St., Lebanon

Volunteers will gather at 10 a.m. in the parking lot of the Game Time Fun Center at 22nd St. & Cumberland St. in North Cornwall Township (along Rt. 422 as you head into the City of Lebanon from Annville, across the street from Longhorn Steakhouse at 2125 Cumberland). There, we’ll divide into teams of 3-4 persons each and fan out in the woods along the banks of Quittapahilla Creek to pick up trash and hunt for plastic artifacts suitable for display in the Quittapahilla Creek Garbage Museum. Trash bags will be provided. Long pants and sturdy footwear are recommended. Bring your own water and, if desired, snacks.  Contact Michael Schroeder at schroede@lvc.edu.

12–1 p.m. | NG-203

Speaker: Lauren Ferreri – Manager of Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area (Pennsylvania Game Commission) 

BirdLife International recognizes Middle Creek Wildlife Management as an Important Bird Area (IBA)–a globally important geographic area for the conservation of bird populations.  Lauren Ferreri will discuss how the Pennsylvania Game Commission manages nearly 6,000 acres of natural resources balancing conservation with human uses. 

Please contact Dr. Urban if you would like to meet Lauren over lunch after her talk to discuss career opportunities with the Game Commission.  

7 p.m. | Leedy Theater

Larry Weaner, author of Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes can be a Source of Environmental Change will discuss how land can be managed for ecological services and aesthetics. By integrating ecological restoration techniques with cultural landscape preferences, land stewards can ensure properties have tangible value to community members while also possessing high-quality, resilient natural systems. Larry will emphasis how to recruit native plant communities and maximize plant colonization, natural succession, and disturbance events to save funds and labor. 

This talk is Co-sponsored with the Lebanon Valley Conservancy, LVC Biology Department, and LVC’s Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee. The Lebanon Valley Conservancy will award the Richard H. and Karen R. Light Memorial Scholarship at the start of this event. 

2–4 p.m.

Interested participants will meet at the cow statue in front of facilities to join Dr. Becker and Dr. Urban for a nature walk and tour of LVC’s Wood Thrush Research Preserve. This preserve is an approximately 20-acre oak-hickory forest located on the north side of campus, just behind Facilities Services. Environmental science and Biology students often walk to this field site to conduct research and learn how to identify common plants and animals of Pennsylvania. Research students have used the preserve to conduct projects that tested the effect of soil nutrients on the invasive garlic mustard, the impact of spotted lanternflies on insect communities, and the impact of deer on the forest plant community. Researchers from the USDA and West Virginia University have also used our preserve for data collection.

3–5 p.m.

Care for our campus by helping with a spring clean-up/mulching day with LVC’s Office of Community Service & Volunteerism and Facilities Services.  

Sign-up on Redbook.   

9 a.m.–noon

Volunteers will meet at the Swingholm Pedestrian Bridge in Quittie Creek Nature Park in Annville at the southern end of Bachman Rd.—a short walk from the LVC campus—and be divided into work crews to spread mulch, clear trails, remove invasive species, pick up trash, and in general spruce up the Nature Park for the coming summer. Work tools and work gloves will be provided. Please bring your own water, and, if desired, snacks. Long pants and sturdy footwear are recommended. Join us!  

Sign-up on Redbook.   

12–1 p.m. | NG-203

Speaker(s): Mike Mumper and the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee 

Learn about various Environmental Sustainability Initiatives happening at Lebanon Valley College.  We encourage audience members to ask questions and suggest additional initiatives.