The City of Prattville will observe Arbor Day on Thursday, February 21st, at 10:00 a.m. at the Pratt Park Pavilion, located at 460 Doster Road.

Mayor Gillespie will read and then present the Arbor Day Proclamation to the Autauga County Master Gardeners Association. The Alabama Forestry Commission will provide a thousand tree seedlings for distribution to the public. Members of the Autauga County Master Gardeners Association will distribute the trees. Available species include an assortment of oaks, Chickasaw plum, crape myrtle, redbud, Japanese maple and other varieties.

This year’s observance will also include the planting of an 8-10’ red maple donated by Plantation Tree Company, which will be planted in Pratt Park to replace the tree lost in recent severe weather.

Wetumpka is the site of the greatest natural disaster to ever hit Alabama, a large meteor strike. It created a five-mile wide crater that is still visible near the city. This happened over 85 million years ago near the end of the “Age of Dinosaurs”.

First discovered in the mid 1970s, an astrobleme, meaning “star wound” was confirmed and registered in 1998 by Dr. David King Jr., Professor of Geology, Auburn University. Because the location was covered by a shallow sea at the time of impact, scientists have declared it to be one of the “best preserved marine impact craters in the world”.

Each year the Wetumpka Impact Crater Commission and City of Wetumpka sponsor several Crater events, a Thursday evening public lecture by Dr David King and Friday school tours and Saturday public tours of the Crater.

Dr. King will conduct a free public lecture on the science of the Crater on Thursday, February 21st at 7:00 pm in the Wetumpka Civic Center, Main Street, Wetumpka.

Got ants?  Tired of ladybug invasions in the fall?  Brought home bed bugs from your last trip?  Alabama Cooperative Extension professionals will moderatre a free webinar series that will take on all of these topics.  In 2013, most of the webinars will be on fire ants and other invasive ant specias.  Other topics for the year include bed bugs and various insects that invade homes each autumn.

Alabama Extension entomologist Dr. Kathy Flanders says these free webinars are designed for homeowners and the general public.

"We will provide them wilth sound, research-based management solutions for these pests from some of the best experts around the country," she says.  "The webinars are specifically for ordinary people wno need answers they can use."

"Participating is as simple as clicking on a web link."

Each webinar will begin at 1 p.m.