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by Rob Streich The two grade six classes . at Cartwright Central Public School have done their part to reduce the greenhouse effect. Recently, the planted two hundred evergreen trees around the school yard in Blackstock and raised money to preserve three acres of forest in Latin America. Cartwright Teachers Mr. Marshall and Mr. Wilson helped the students bring the projects to fruition. Mr. Marshall explained that his class was studying a unit on trees, including discus- sion of the Temagami issue. The students were tired of Looking for A Place to Advertise Your Business? LOOK HERE! Where consumers in need shop for the professionals in business! Call: 985-7383 for more information. students "able rainforest lands. Planting a tree or 200 hearing about all the problems, they told him they wanted to take action. - Mr. Marshall presented them with several options, and the grade six students chose to getinvolved in preserving valu- Every acre of rainforest which is -gaved is a little less carbon di- oxide in the atmosphere to heat things up, he explained. Just. after the March Break, the 50 grade sixes brought in armloads of old toys and comic books and proceeded to have an auction. The group managed to raise some $85.71 which is enough to preserve three acres Now Open -- New Location (at about $25 per acre) of rain- forest under the care of the World Wildlife Fund. As a sign of appreciation, the WWF sent them a com- memorative plaque which now hang son the classroom wall. Jim Wilson, as a separate project, arranged to get 200 mixed red pines and white spruce saplings. In an effort to beautify the community and to teach the students a few ecolog- ical skills, they spent a period planting the trees at the school. The trees are being careful- ly nurtured and appear to be coming along well, although the dandelions are giving them competition. THAPAR DENTURE THERAPY CLINIC 2 Brock St. E., UXBRIDGE "(above IDA Drug Store) 214 Dundas St. E., WHITBY, Ontario -- BY APPOINTMENT ONLY -- 852-5291 668-7797 7th ANNUAL ARENA FELIMINATION DRAW and DANCE 5,000. in PRIZES to be WON Grand Prize *4,000. (winner need not be present) (for last ticket drawn) Saturday, June 17th At 7:30 PM -- Scugog Arena $15.00 per COUPLE Ticket stub must be presented before entry. \ TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM: Ringette, Minor Hockey Ladies' Auxiliary, Junior 'C' Hockey, Broomball, Minor Hockey, Scugog Men's League, Ball Hockey, Oldtimers' Hockey Club, Figure Skating, Scugog Arena, Pineridge Sports Shop, Sportsland Ltd. in Port Perry and Causeway Esso on Hwy. 7A East. Each Ticket will allow entry for one couple. Sponsored by the SCUGOG ARENA BOARD SPECIAL OCCASION PERMIT Inurepid | cottager by Craig Nicholson (c. 1988 All Rights Reserved) CATERPILLARS Until I came to the country I thought caterpillars were yellow | heavy equipment. But I knew different when I saw them in trees. = Millions of them. Crawling, hanging, falling, massing, writhing, | wriggling and generally being yucky. It brought new meaning = to the biblical pkrase "a plague of locusts." Not that I'd rather have locusts, but the recent gypsy moth invasion could have us { wondering what sins are being punished. The name gypsy moth has kind of a mystical, wandering ring | to it, but the only thing free about these spirits is that they eat | trees for nothing. That crunching sound I can't hear the silence {| for is 100 billion mandibles chomping their way through my § i backyard. Matched only by the cacophony of tiny black pellets dropping into my drink. Like any protective property owner, I dashed out to ward off the infesting hordes. Which squished under foot at each step, fell onto my head, crawled up my pant leg and tried to eat my §£ hair. The side of the house was alive with hairy bodies out for a snack. Not wanting to be it, I plunged into the lake and ran : inside. an igriominious retreat to the car and slid out, our tires greas- ing the road with slimy streaks. I couldn't believe that we'd been forced out of our paradise by a hairy worm 2 inches long. Even if it had brought all of its friends and relatives. Fortunately, I had signed up for aerial spraying and even as we drove out, the cavalry arrived like the sound track from Platoon - low flying helicopters thwack-thumping and high flyers swooping with mist. from their wing tanks. I could almost hear the dying. Within several days the infestation had peaked for the season, leaving behind a dismal and devastated tree line that was October in May. The water stank with rotting little bodies and the fish were so sated from gorging on the surface wrigglers that they took the year off from angling. I think the gypsy moth | The wife was positive David Cronenberg was filming his next : horror flick outside and I only wanted to get away. So we beat | solution is to train them only to eat in the autumn so I don't have [ to rake leaves. The next fall, I organized a Pine Sol brigade of neighbours and victims. We attacked egg masses by saturating with the § cleaner, scraping and destroying. There was immense satisfac- § _ tion in fighting back, although I was worried that my name would £ {| be foremost on the next year's gypsy moth hit list. So I ordered gypsy moth traps for that spring and placed : = them around the area. The idea is that the male moths are lured = to a female scent inside the trap and terminated by insecticide, © never having the chance to fertilize her eggs. It would have work- ed on me, so I figured it for a winner. With the combination of spraying, pine soling, trapping and : squishing, the moth virtually disappeared the following year. I think it had more to do with their gypsy nature and the fact that there were fresher trees to be had elsewhere, but who really : cared why. They were gone and nothing could ever by as horri- | ble again. Except the tent invasion. No, not an influx of merry campers. A caterpillar cousin given our name by some vindictive depar- ¢ ting gypsy; "There's a great place to chow down to the north of here, I'll give you the address." With tent caterpillars, suddenly I saw webbed nests in the crooks and joints of small trees. I charged out with the propane | torch and fried up a mess of what would be delicasies § somewhere. Nothing else was going to invade my paradise. § 2 The next weekend I drove in the cottage road through a mov- § i ing veil of caterpillars dangling on silk threads in the wind. High ¢: in the trees were living masses of pulsating tents. None of us . could understand how so many caterpillars could come from the § ¢ few webs that might have survived our armageddon, so I called § tthe Ministry. Who informed me that this infestation was a double wham- my of Forest tents and Eastern tents. They all seemed to me to be in all directions and only in the forest, but those easterners are easily fooled. The gypsys had their revenge; I almost wish- : ed I hadn't squashed their kids. The good news was that the tents were only booked for two weeks and then had to go move on. So I got out my trusty golf umbrella to shield me on walks and proceeded to be Arnold Schwartzenegger to their hapless villainry. And I got used to straining caterpillars with my teeth as I drank. I am spraying again this year against any living creature that comes in more than two's. I dread what new mutant hordes Mother Nature has in store for the future - gypsy beavers or eastern porcupines or chain saw moths - what does she have against trees Spwaye? What would be wrong with a plague against black flies or mosquitos or Revenue Canada? And § whatever happened to the balance of nature? Are trees the only sinners? What about that skunk who sprayed the dogs or that raccoon who keeps trashing my garbage or the fox who eats the neighbours chickens? When do they get their comeuppance? The answer, my friends, is blo in the wind - along with the next insect plague and the fleas that just landed on Fido.