Members of Loma Vista 4-H Club's Roots & Shoots Project are working to "Rebirth the Earth" as part of a nationwide campaign to plant trees while raising money to create tree nurseries in Africa.

The 19 local participants planted more than 100 sycamore, black oak and walnut trees at Hedrick Ranch Nature Area on Saturday, November 10 in Santa Paula. The group worked with Friends of the Santa ClaraRiver, a local nonprofit group whose goal is to restore native habitat at the preserve. The acreage has been afflicted by major ingrowth of the invasive giant cane (arundo). The preserve was formerly a valencia orange farm, but is now being restored to native habitat.

The project marked the end of a year-long set of activities supported by an award from the Dean Memorial 4-H Legacy Fund. Our group received $1,000 for a year-long project titled "Trees, Turtles, and Tanzania." Our other funded activities have included teaching others about energy conservation, a compact fluorescent bulb fundraiser to support the education of a Tanzanian boy, creation of new habitats for local pond turtles displaced from local mountains by heavy rains, and other turtle/tortoise rehabilitation activities.

The last part of our Rebirth the Earth work will now involve raising money to contribute to creation of 5 tree nurseries in deforested areas of Tanzania. - working in concert with other U.S. and Tanzanian Roots & Shoots (R&S) groups. Our project invites clubs throughout VenturaCounty to join us in planting trees and in participating in the Rebirth the Earth Campaign. Local 4-H member Bryan Lairmore is the national R&S campaign chairperson.

Project members thank the Dean Memorial 4-H Legacy Fund for a year of valuable service-learning in which we have learned a great deal about environmental challenges, both locally and internationally. We especially thank the Fund for empowering us to not just learn about the problems - but to truly make a difference!