Free: Pettit Preserve’s Earth Day Hike

The Pettit Environmental Preserve will be open to the public for an Earth Day Hike on Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition to special guests from the city of Cartersville recycling program and Keep Bartow Beautiful, the Preserve trail will be open for self-led or interpreted hikes presented by the Preserve Educator Lori Jewell.

“Our Earth Day Hike is focused on the recycling mantra of “reduce, reuse, recycle,” states the Preserve’s Executive Director, Marina Robertson. “There are so many really simple things we can do in our daily lives that have a positive impact on the planet.”

The Bartow County Master Gardeners will have a composting demonstration, including using nature’s voracious composters, worms. The Master Gardeners have taken on the task of maintaining the Preserve’s composting area and will share insights as well as demonstrate a worm composting method that uses a 20-gallon storage bin.

The City of Cartersville Recycling department will have a representative on site to discuss recycling and sign up residents for the new curbside program, which the city expects will reap savings in landfill fees. Keep Bartow Beautiful will also have information & activities on recycling.

Admission to the Preserve and the program are free.

The Pettit Preserve was created to provide environmental education and promote ecological preservation. The 70-acre property hosts hundreds of school children and Scouts for field trips, hiking & Scout badge activities every year. The Preserve has trails that feature a swinging bridge, a Learning Shed, two aquatic stations, and three amphitheaters for teaching, all nestled around a 9-acre lake. Since opening to school groups in 2006, the Preserve has seen approximately 5,000 students in onsite programs

Since the mission of the Preserve is educational, not recreational, it is not open to the public daily for hiking. However, the trails were professionally designed by Cartersville’s own Switchback Trails, which has contracts all over the country, including on the Appalachian Trail. The Spring Hike is an ideal time to experience the trails.

The Pettit Preserve is located off Highway 61, four miles south of the Cartersville airport. Turn left on Douthit Bridge Road and continue to fork; right fork is Vineyard Road, which leads to the Preserve. For more information on the programs of the Pettit Preserve, including the Spring Hike, visit the website at www.pettitpreserve.org or contact Marina Robertson at director@pettitpreserve.org or by phone 678-848-4179.