Be smart with tree decorations in park

Editor,

I am a 12-year-old girl from Ocean Pines and the club reporter for the 4-H Nature Adventurers. Our club is made up of homeschoolers. We focus on education, the environment, and service to the community.

We gather several times a year to collect trash at various parks, including White Horse Park. Unfortunately, while the parks and rec team do an excellent job cleaning up after events, we still find bits of broken ornaments and zip ties there year-round.

We have decorated trees as a club the past few years, and this time we went with all nature-friendly ornaments, using string and twine to hang bird seed covered pinecones, popcorn and cranberry garlands, dried oranges, and even a star made of sticks.

With any luck, the birds will help themselves to our decorations and leave us little to clean up after the holidays.

All the trees are always so beautifully decorated. We hope that our tree this year will encourage others to think about nature when securing their ornaments (it can get so windy!) and maybe even hang things that if blown off will be safe for the local critters to find.

Wishing you a happy holiday season,

Frankie Maratea
Ocean Pines