Community Briefs for Sept. 19, 2019

Camas School District seeks Citizens Advisory Committee members

Camas School District is seeking new members for its Citizens Advisory Committee.

The advisory group gives input to the Camas school board and superintendent on issues such as school programing and district policies.

The committee is made up of 25 to 30 parents, community members and other stakeholders. Each member is asked to serve a three-year term. Meetings are held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the first Monday of the month, October through June, at the Zellerbach Administration Center, 841 N.E. 22nd Ave., Camas.

Vancouver to celebrate ‘Old Apple Tree’ on Oct. 5

Vancouver’s legendary “Old Apple Tree” turns 193 this year.

The city will host a celebration at the annual Old Apple Tree Festival, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Old Apple Tree Park, 112 S.E. Columbia Way, directly east of the Interstate 5 Bridge within the Fort Vancouver national historic site.

The family-friendly, free event offers live music, tree care workshops, Vancouver Land Bridge tours, hands-on arts and crafts and food for purchase.

Urban Abundance will again host a free apple-pressing station. The public is encouraged to bring clean apples and containers to participate.

Also returning this year is the popular hard cider garden and a taste marketplace featuring food samples, hosted by Slow Food Southwest Washington. Local musical groups, The Juleps and River Twain, will provide live music.

The city of Vancouver’s Urban Forestry Commission will be giving away a limited number of tree cuttings from the Old Apple Tree during the festival.

Planted in 1826 at Fort Vancouver, Vancouver’s venerable Old Apple Tree is the oldest apple tree in the Northwest and considered the matriarch of Washington state’s apple industry. Despite floods, winds, drought, ice and snow, the tree has survived and continues to produce some fruit.

The Old Apple Tree Festival is presented by the Urban Forestry Commission in partnership with the city of Vancouver’s Urban Forestry, a Public Works Department program; Bartlett Tree Care; Slow Food Southwest Washington; and the National Park Service.

For more information about the Old Apple Tree Festival and Vancouver’s efforts to enhance the community’s trees and the benefits they bring to residents and businesses, visit cityofvancouver.us/urbanforestry.

Online tickets available for Camas High School athletic events

Tickets for Camas High School athletic events are now available for purchase online.

Participants can visit bit.ly/CHStickets to purchase tickets to all Camas High athletic events, including Papermakers’ football games, and can save the tickets to their phones or print the tickets to show at the gate or door.

Tickets will go on sale at least 24 hours before each athletic event.

The school district also is offering the popular “annual group pass” to athletic events again this year. The cost is $150 for four annual group passes. Each group pass is good for unlimited admission to Camas High home events during the 2019-20 school year. Postseason and playoff events are not included in the group pass. The group passes are available for purchase in the Camas High ASB office and at all Camas High home athletic events through Friday, Sept. 20. They are not available for purchase online.

Middle school and high school students with an ASB card will continue to buy their tickets at the gate or door. Children younger than middle school age must have an adult with them to attend all Camas High athletic events. For this reason, tickets for children must be purchased in person, at the event, with an adult. They are not available online.

For more information, call the Camas High athletic office at 360-833-5760 or email marcia.johnson@camas.wednet.edu.

Fourth-graders, families can get free admission to Fort Vancouver

The Every Kid Outdoors annual pass provides fourth grade students, along with their families, friends and classmates, free access to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, along with more than 2,000 other federal recreation areas for a year.

The Every Kid Outdoors Program encourages fourth-graders to explore, learn, and recreate in spectacular settings, including national parks, wildlife refuges, marine sanctuaries and forests.

“There is so much to discover at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site,” said Chief of Interpretation Aaron Ochoa. “Visits on class trips or family vacations to explore the fascinating history and roots of our community will provide lifelong memories.”

The National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, is expanding the impact of the Every Kid Outdoors initiative through its Open Outdoors for Kids program connecting fourth grade students to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site with funding support for field trips this year.

To obtain the free pass, fourth grade students need to visit the Every Kid Outdoors website, participate in a short educational activity and download a voucher. The voucher is valid for multiple use through Aug. 31, 2020. The voucher may be exchanged for a plastic keepsake pass at participating federal lands. At Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, plastic passes can be obtained at the Visitor Center and at the reconstructed fort.

The voucher or pass grants free entry for fourth-graders, all children under 16 in the group and up to three accompanying adults (or an entire car for drive-in parks) to most federally managed lands and waters. The pass does not cover expanded amenity fees such as camping or boat rides.

The Every Kid Outdoors Program was established by Congress in 2019. It replaces the Every Kid in a Park Program, which was launched in 2015. It is an interagency collaboration between the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and U.S. Forest Service.