State leaders, volunteers celebrate Earth Day with cleanup at Raleigh's Chavis Park

Earth Day volunteers pitched in on Friday to protect the environment, including Gov. Roy Cooper and other state leaders.

The group gathered at Raleigh’s John Chavis Memorial Park with a focus on protecting the stream that runs through the 28.87-acre site. The stream also runs through a significant part of the downtown area.

Cooper and many volunteers picked up many bags full of trash. It included everything from blankets, tin cans, an old fishing rod and even a rusty steering wheel.

"We owe it to our children and future generations to make this place cleaner and better than it was before," Cooper said.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Elizabeth Biser said stream restoration has a been a priority.

"Statewide, DEQ and [its] mitigation team has restored enough miles of stream to run from Murphy to Manteo and halfway back," Biser said.

Biser added that good land, air and water quality are vital for public health. According to Biser, last year there were 23 million visitors to the state’s parks, which was 3 million more than the year before.

Despite that spike in park visits, Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Reid Wilson said too many of the state’s residents don’t enjoy those natural benefits.

"There are lots of places, underserved, rural and urban as well, where people don’t have access to a park or a trail or greenway," Wilson said.

Wilson said new funding in the state budget will help expand parks and trails. Cooper said those natural benefits are more important than ever.

"I think during the pandemic, when people were forced to stay inside at home, that our parks became an oasis for so many people," Cooper said.

During the cleanup effort, Cooper also touted his administration’s goal to push toward Carbon Zero emissions, and advancing the state’s clean air and water trust fund.