Earth Day Funding Will Go to 5 Sites

Five Orange County sites were awarded a total of $7,600 in grants for Earth Day 2000 projects by the California State Parks Foundation and Enron Corp., a natural gas and power company.

The two organizations announced that they are funding 72 restoration and cleanup projects statewide that will take place on the 30th annual Earth Day--April 22.

“There seems to be a need to reconnect people with the Earth on Earth Day,” said Susan Smartt, president of the foundation. “There’s a lot of festivals where different groups have booths . . . have bands and celebrate Earth Day. We’re reconnecting community groups and park users with actually doing hands-on projects.”

The Orange County projects and grants:

* $2,000 to plant native flora at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve;

* $2,000 to plant large native trees at San Onofre State Beach;

* $1,550 to replace a native plant garden and butterfly habitat at Doheny State Beach;

* $1,300 to remove exotic plants and replace native trees at El Morro Canyon;

* $750 to clean up Huntington Beach.

A total of $102,032 was granted to state and community parks and schools in 28 counties. The Parks Foundation/Enron partnership was formed in 1997 to promote Earth Day projects.

The partnership also produces a guidebook for volunteer opportunities on Earth Day and expects 15,000 to 20,000 participants across the state, Smartt said.