Monday, April 22, was Earth Day, and we are celebrating the public employees who are tasked with managing, preserving and studying Ohio’s natural resources. Not just on Earth Day, but all year long, proud and dedicated public service employees help take care of our public lands. They keep our soil and water safe and so much more in a variety of agencies from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. 

This past weekend, Michael Durst, an OCSEA member at ODNR, joined public employee union members and communities around the state in celebrating Earth Day. A Naturalist at Dillon State Park in East Central Ohio, Michael helped host the park's annual Earth Day celebration that included educational opportunities for the public, wildlife, food trucks and more.

"The morning started off with a wonderfully engaging Tree Talk Hike during which we delved into the world of trees––what they can tell us, how they connect to the rest of the forest (and world), and even the universes of other worlds they themselves harbor," said Michael, full of excitement about the work he does.

Michael and the park also joined community groups like the Muskingum County Library System, for a Naturalist's Nature Book Club, and the Wild at Hart Wildlife Rehabilitation, for an education on non-releasable wildlife. Michael says the event would not be possible without the contributions of the Friends of Dillon State Park volunteer group.

"It’s imperative for us to be here to help foster these relationships between people and the natural world and to help illuminate the earthly wonders that surround––and connect––with us all," said Michael. "While this is an everyday core component of what we do, Earth Day is a prime time to really shine that spotlight on the importance of it all...as long as we turn that spotlight off at night so as not to detrimentally affect our nocturnal wildlife friends," he says, throwing in a naturalist joke.