BOISE, Idaho — The Boise WaterShed hosted an Earth Day Celebration Saturday, promoting the city's climate action plans with activities for people of all ages.
During the event, the Boise WaterShed also unveiled its new logo and gave attendees a first look at the education center's new mission and future exhibits.
As part of the Earth Day Celebration, the WaterShed announced it is preparing to become the first Water and Climate Science Center in the United States.
"Visitors will have an opportunity to come in, take a look at the new exhibits that are coming online and giving us their input," Water Education Coordinator at the Boise WaterShed, Aimee Hughes said. "There’s also a lot of activities for kids that range from a giant paint-by-numbers, to climate science activities. We’ve got a taco truck here, we’ve got live music, lots of ways for the community to get involved and learn more about the Watershed and the city’s climate action roadmap.”
The City of Boise's new Climate Action Roadmap is an informative plan to meet its carbon-neutral goal for city government by 2035 and the entire Boise community by 2050. The Boise City Council unanimously approved the goal in June 2021.
In 2035, the goal is to have all city facilities carbon neutral by electrifying fleets, electrifying buildings, and expanding Idaho's geothermal systems, according to Boise Mayor Lauren McLean. The city also has a City of Tree Challenge to plant 100,000 trees by the year 2030.
Saturday's event was sponsored by the Idaho STEM Action Center. To celebrate Earth Day, El Gallo Giro served free tacos to the first 200 attendees and the first 100 families to complete an event passport received a day pass to Zoo Boise.
Guests had the opportunity to tour the Boise WaterShed's water renewal facility on one of Valley Regional Transit's new electric buses.
“Our mission is to inspire water and climate change awareness and inspire action by educating people of all ages on how to protect and conserve our nature resources for future generations," Hughes said. "So, when people visit the WaterShed, we’re giving them an opportunity to learn about water stewardship, as well as climate change and local impacts and ways we can change our daily behavior, to protect all of those resources.”
To learn more about the facility -- including its education center with more than 15 interactive exhibits -- visit the Boise WaterShed website.
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