Habitat Trail Links Social Justice and Conservation

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Six, Number Five
July/August 1997

Hedgerow Wildlife Habitat Trail Links Social Justice and Conservation

The Hedgerow Habitat Trail project of the Community Lutheran Church (CLC) in Sterling, Virginia, was born in 1994 when members shared their vision of an environmentally and economically responsible land management plan for the church's five acre property, in response to their concern for the badly degraded quality of soil and wildlife habitat in the area.

With technical assistance and funding from conservation organizations, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and local fund raising activities, over a period of three years, the church created a two thirds acre landscape that demonstrates National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife habitat principles and Alliance for Chesapeake Bay's conservation concepts.

Volunteers from the congregation and local community together prepared the beds and planted over 250 native trees and shrubs. They held regular education/work days to build the sense of community among the volunteers. One thousand wildflower plugs were planted in the church meadow. Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops helped prepare bird feeding stations and seating areas for the trail. Participants in the Urban Family Institute Kids House, an after school development program for disadvantaged youth in Washington DC, joined other volunteers for the Fall planting day.

In 1996 the ELCA Division of Stewardship and Hunger Education provided funding to initiate a container garden at Kids House in Washington, which led to a Kids House Food Garden coordinated by Jon Greenstone of CLC.

Approximately 200 people from the church and the community attended the dedication of the Hedgerow Habitat Trail in October 1996, when the trail was formally opened for walking tours, reflection and educational programming. Since then the CLC has formalized a new Earthkeeping Ministries as a national model. Working with the property Ministries and Social Ministries of the CLC, the Earthkeeping Ministries has initiated a Youth Garden to grow fresh produce for the local interfaith hunger network, and to further educational initiatives around hunger and sustainable agriculture issues.

The National Religious Partnership selected the Hedgerow Habitat Trail project as one of 35 model congregational projects nationwide that link environmental protection and social justice.

For more information write Suse Greenstone, Earthkeeping Ministries, Community Lutheran Church, 21014 Whitfield Place, Sterling VA 20165; 703/430-6006; email: jsgreen@worldnet.att.net