Saturday, April 24, 9:30-noon

Please join Conserve Utah Valley in helping to make immediate improvement at the Slate Canyon Trailhead through four projects. You can be part of the Global Earth Day 2021 “Renew the Earth” Project. Registration at conserveutahvalley.org. Earth Day is the first of Saturdays at Slate Canyon.

First, In conjunction with Provo City Kindness Week and the Provo Parks Department, we will improve the landscaping by removing weeds, spreading rock, gravel and bark along the parking strips and parking lot perimeters.

Second, the bike skills course and disc golf course have many shrubs, trees, and weeds that need to be trimmed back. The Provo Parks Department will cut the undergrowth in advance of Earth Day. They have asked for volunteers to help remove the cuttings, weeds and overgrowth by dragging and carrying them to Provo City Dumpsters and dump trucks.

Third, overseen by the Provo Police Department’s “Tag” Graffiti Removal team, a small number of people are needed to help paint over and remove paint from concrete, wooden fences and canyon boulders.

Fourth, to understand and appreciate the diversity of Slate Canyon, a coalition of scientists from BYU and UVU are launching a citizen science project to list as many species as possible that live in the canyon. We need volunteers to meet with these scientists and their research assistants and learn about the insects, birds, plants, animals and fungi of our canyon. Using their phone cameras and Apps like iSeek and iNaturalist volunteers can document what lives here. Earth Day 2021 Slate Canyon will launch this effort which will continue throughout the year. Earth Day 2021 will also introduce volunteers to the “City Nature Challenge” (April 30-May 3).

To help Earth Day Volunteers appreciate the plants and animals of Slate Canyon The Monte L. Bean Museum will have four education stations along the entrance to Slate Canyon (below the bike skills course.) BYU Sustainability Club presents Recycling Right. Additionally, Spring Clean Up at South Fork Provo Canyon allows people another location to care for our canyon parks and trails. Help pick up trash from the picnic areas and get it to the dumpsters.

• Saturday, May 22 9:30-noon “Purge the Spurge” Invasive Species Removal of myrtle spurge between Slate Canyon and Mountain Trailhead along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Sponsored by Provo City and the Utah Native Plant Society assisted by Centennial Middle School Students.
• Saturday, June 26, 9:30-noon “Who Lives Here?” Excursions in the canyon.
• Saturday July 31, 9:30-noon Bonneville Shoreline Trail southern trail demarcation.
• Saturday August 28, 9:30-noon “How We Share Water”