They brightened roadsides. They badgered polluters. They buried automobiles. And they built forests. In one day, no less.
It was 1970. Americans were full of spunk, and the country was full of junk. Earth Day used one to begin to fix the other.
On April 22, millions of Americans, many of them students, took to the streets -- and streams -- to pick up debris and decry the state of the environment.
In some communities, their legacy still stands.
A modest erosion-control effort by college students on the first Earth Day 25 years ago has yielded a sumptuous, wildlife-rich woods near Manchester, in Carroll County.
And, like the forest, Earth Day has evolved considerably since its beginning as a massive, slightly nutty national rally.
On the first Earth Day, protests produced more headlines than plantings. Participants piled trash around politicians' doors, splashed oil outside industrialists' offices and even painted Old Glory green, to decry the planet's ills.
But demonstrations tapered off as the environmental movement seeped into America's psyche. Earth Day began as a free-spirited activity, but metamorphosed into a national mind-set, say those who were there at the start.
"What we did that day was make people more aware of the problems," says Linton Warneke Beaven who, as a Western Maryland College student, took part in the inaugural Earth Day. "I don't think there's as much trash thrown on the road as there used to be. And most people aren't going to dump raw sewage into Chesapeake Bay today."
It wasn't all confrontation in 1970. With no fanfare, Earth Day took root in places like the Robert Hunter farm where Western Maryland College students swarmed over a barren hillside to plant 20,000 pine seedlings.
Today, those evergreens provide dense sanctuary for deer and small game, including foxes, pheasants and wild turkeys. Nearly 40 feet tall, the woods linger for one-fourth of a mile, providing a lush backdrop visible to motorists on busy Route 30.
That news surprises Ms. Beaven, one of more than 300 young men and women who took part in the Plant-In.
"Forty feet? You're kidding!" she says. "You mean we did something of lasting importance?"
Troops toiled in tandem, she recalled, digging holes and positioning trees. The Plant-In paired hippies and crew-cuts. On Earth Day, sandals worked alongside sneakers.
