Major sponsor, first planting help ‘green’ Alpine Boulevard

The project to beautify Alpine Boulevard is moving forward with the help of a major sponsor and the first planting!

The Alpine Mountain Em­pire Chamber of Commerce, the Back Country Land Trust (BCLT) and the Certified Com­munity Wildlife Habitat are organizing the effort to return trees and plants to small dirt plots left bare after years of major construction on Alpine’s main street.

“The Chamber is proud to partner with the community to beautify the boulevard,” said Alex Ward, the Chamber’s ex­ecutive director. “We think cus­tomers and visitors will enjoy the additional greenery.”

Ace Hardware has donated topsoil to help drought-tolerant native plants grow, said Jon Green, BCLT program and out­reach director.

“Ace donated 60 bags of top­soil from their business,” Green said. “They special ordered a pal­let for us. Having that topsoil is the first step in rebuilding the soil.”

Manager Tim Mathews of Ace Hardware in the Alpine Creek Town Center at 1347 Tavern Road said the donated topsoil is part of Ace’s ongoing community service.

“We want to be involved to ac­tively show that we care for our community,” Mathews said.

Becky Wyrick is co-owner of Alpine Motorsports & Equip­ment Repair at 2435 Alpine Blvd., where the first planting has been done.

Wyrick said she doesn’t have a plot big enough for trees so she chose two small plants. She wa­ters them several times a week.

“I go out there with a little jug, pour a little water on them,” Wyrick said. “It’s not that hard.”

BCLT is donating 500 plants for the project through a Lush Cosmetics grant. The Cham­ber is helping with permits for plots on San Diego County right of way. Certified Community Wildlife Habitat is signing up volunteers to water the plants.

“All the planting areas that have signed on so far, about eight, have water volunteers,” Green said. “Volunteers are ac­tually clamoring to help. People want to participate. It’s a nice start.”

He said Saturday, Dec. 1, will be Volunteer Day for the com­munity project.

Everyone interested will meet at The Alpine Sun newspaper at 2144 Alpine Blvd. for another planting and to clean up the bou­levard, Green said.

“It’s nice to have the commu­nity looking nice,” Wyrick said. “Anything’s better than the    lit­tle dirt lot they (construction) left us with.”

For more information, to be a sponsor or to volunteer to wa­ter plants, call the Chamber at (619) 445-2722 or e-mail back­countrylandtrust@gmail.com; lorib@alpinechamber.com or carletteanderson@aol.com.