Duke Energy supports local parks with Earth Day grants.

To commemorate Earth Day, the Duke Energy Foundation granted $100,000 to various organizations that support access to parks and trails across the states, as well as microgrants to community parks across South Carolina.

The gifts are part of a $400,000 month-long campaign focused on sustainability and environmental efforts, according to a news release.

South Carolina State Parks will use its grant to improve handicap accessibility to Lake Placid at Paris Mountain State Park, while the Nature Conservancy will build a 20-mile stretch of trail at Jones Gap State Park called the Gap Creek Extension.

The Palmetto Trail pledged its support for the Gap Creek Extension with its donation from Duke Energy and will also fund updated trail signage and a trailhead kiosk, the news release said.

Another grant will help replace wooden footbridges throughout the Foothills Trail and upgrade equipment used to manage the trail, according to the release.

"Five years ago, the Duke Energy Water Resources Fund generously supported The Nature Conservancy's purchase of a 955-acre property to expand Jones Gap State Park," Dale Threatt-Taylor, executive director for The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina, said in the release. "Today, this additional $25,000 investment from the Duke Energy Foundation will support the design of more than 20 miles of trails that will traverse throughout that property. Providing more outdoor recreational access for South Carolinians to enjoy is an ideal way to celebrate Earth Day, and we're excited to have the foundation's continued support in protecting and stewarding special landscapes in the Upstate and beyond."

Earlier in the month, Duke employees and retirees volunteered with TreesUpstate and the Energy Saving Trees Program. The energy company also extended $100,000 to litter...