Mount Diablo Group

"The Iron Horse Trail - Next Phase:
Sustainable Landscaping and Protecting the Watershed"

Wednesday, March 9, 7:30 pm, Winslow Center, Pleasant Hill (corner of Taylor Boulevard and Pleasant Hill Road).

The Mount Diablo Group of the Sierra Club has long advocated that the old Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way, now known as the Iron Horse Corridor, include a continuous trail surrounded by landscaped open space. Now new county provisions, along with a pilot project to introduce more sustainable landscape maintenance along the corridor, may bring this vision to fruition.

Join us for a slide presentation and discussion of the Iron Horse Trail Project presented by Judy Adler, member of the Iron Horse Corridor Management Program Advisory Committee, and Jeff Gustafson, youth environmental advocate. Adler heads the non-profit environmental organization LifeGarden, which is spearheading the pilot project along the corridor to replace conventional weed-management practices of mowing and spraying herbicides with mulching and growing natives. If successful, this effort will result in significant cost savings to management agencies, as well as fostering improvements in wildlife habitat and reductions in water pollution and diversion of organic wastes.

The Iron Horse Trail Project offers many opportunities for community involvement in natural-resource protection. Join us on March 9 to learn more.

Judy Adler is an environmental educator and consultant. She has been honored for her contributions to environmental preservation by both Save Mount Diablo and the Contra Costa County Commission for Women. In 1999 she co-founded the nonprofit organization LifeGarden, which is dedicated to bringing ecological principles into community land-use practices. Jeff Gustafson, a student at Diablo Valley College, is volunteer coordinator for LifeGarden's Iron Horse Education and Enhancement Program.