In recognition of Earth Day this Saturday, Upper Grand Trailway Association will be saving 150-200 trees that otherwise would be destined for the Great Forest in the Sky.

Later this year, Grand Valley Trail (a separate entity despite similarity of name) is expected to link up with Upper Grand from the south, to complete its hiking route from the Waterloo area to Luther Marsh.

A $75,000 Trillium grant to Grand Valley Trail has made the linking possible, just as Trillium helped fund Upper Grand's construction of a bridge over the Boyne Creek last year.

Earth Day is a serious undertaking, says Kim Davison of the association. The trees the association will transplant are springing up throughout Amaranth and East Luther, and encroaching on roadway rights of way.

Because of the encroachment, the townships need to see the trees removed - either by cutting them out or by moving them to a safe location.

The Trailway is committed to grooming and beautifying the former CP Rail right-of-way that it leases from East Luther Grand Valley Township. For several years, says Ms. Davison, it has been seizing the opportunity to save trees by transplanting them to where they are needed and wanted.

Along with tree planting, there'll be an unveiling of Upper Grand's new information kiosk, and the kids this Saturday will be building and installing bird houses along the trail.

This Friday night, the members will be out there digging up the offending trees. Then, on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., they'll be planting them along the trail.

But that isn't all that's happening this weekend. Ms. Davison said the association's information kiosk would be erected - along with a photo of a train circa 1957, that used to carry people, mail and goods along the Teeswater line through Waldemar and Grand Valley, where the hikers now walk.

The original photo is courtesy of Ralph Beaumont of the Grand River Conservation Authority, who obtained it from Bob Sandusky. "It's beautiful," said Ms. Davison. "You'll have to see it for yourself." (It was shot on the local tracks in 1957.)

And then, on May 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the ELGV council chambers, President Bruce Bjorkquist of the Grand Valley Trail Association is expected to announce that his club will be linking with the Upper Grand to complete a hiking trail from the Kitchener- Waterloo area to the Luther Marsh.