Beale celebrates Earth Week 2019 Published April 26, 2019 By Senior Airman Tristan D. Viglianco 9th Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs Beale celebrates Earth Week 2019 -- The 9th Civil Engineer Squadron environmental office held a variety of events in celebration of Earth Week at several locations April 22 to 25. The events consisted of an outreach table, a hike to Beale Falls, a vernal pool ecology tour, and a native tree planting. “I think doing these events are important because it gives us the opportunity to educate the base and the public on the area,” said Andrew Snee, 9th Civil Engineer Squadron wildlife biologist. “It also allows us to improve the environment and allows the people on base to have natural areas instead of urban sprawl.” Volunteers and members of the environmental office planted trees and shrubs near the base pool in an effort to improve local habitat. “We planted different types of oak trees including live oaks, blue oaks, and valley oaks,” said Chadwick McCready, 9th CES natural resources specialist. “We also planted coffee berry and manzanitas. I think adding trees helps beautify the base and give people who work inside a place to go into nature and relax.” Beale is made up of approximately 23,000 acres and butts up against the Spenceville Wildlife Area, so conservation and restoration on base is important to the health of the local ecosystem. “Since we are right next to the Spenceville Wildlife Area we have a unique opportunity to restore the land and help set up a wildlife corridor for animals,” said Snee. “This allows native birds and mammals to travel through their ranges undisturbed, which helps with overcrowding.” According to McCready, next year is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and the environmental office is planning on celebrating the anniversary by putting on some large scale events and he hopes for high amounts of participation from the base populous.