“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.”
In the same vein of the Chinese proverb and extending a love of trees to the next generation, the Township of Woolwich Environmental Enhancement Committee got local high schoolers to work on their green thumbs by contributing saplings to an Elmira tree nursery last spring. Now, TWEEC is going after a still-younger group as they prepare to roll out their Elementary School Tree Planting Program in preparation for next year’s growing season.
“We’re hoping to fill that nursery with roughly 1,000 trees next spring through the combination of the EDSS students and the elementary program,” said TWEEC member John Mathers this week.
![Naomi Jansen (right) and Jillian Scott (left) took shelter from the Wednesday’s rain under a young tree planted in Elmira. Trees for Woolwich hopes to increase the township’s tree cover by 1,000 come spring, engaging students of all ages. EDSS is continuing its tree-planting efforts this year as part of the science curriculum. [Elena maystruk / The Observer]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/post_tweec.jpg)
Elmira District Secondary School students contributed to the planting of about 3,886 trees in the township in 2013 (a Trees for Woolwich initiative) using the school’s greenhouse to grow about 400 seedlings, an academic project that has been a great success, said teacher Barbara Gaudet, looking back on the project that will continue this winter as part of her science class.
“They enjoyed it. They found it frustrating that germination didn’t happen for all, but they enjoyed it,” she said of her students. “They liked the trees – it’s really neat to get students involved and they always love the hands-on experience.”
The school’s efforts yielded rooted tree stock in pots, the idea being that rooted stock, trees with roots covered by a ball of soil from its pot, are easier to plant than bare root stock, trees with exposed roots that are planted directly into new soil.
For the next growing season, TWEEC members hope to have elementary students from five Woolwich schools participate in a similar fashion. To that end, requests to teachers at St. Teresa Catholic School and John Mahood, Riverside, Breslau and Conestogo public schools have been sent out.
“We’re looking for any teachers willing to tie it into programming for all ages. It would be really well suited for Grades 1 to 3,” said Mathers.
While high school students will continue to plant the fussier tree varieties with small seeds, the younger kids will be charged with growing burl and red oak trees from acorns using honey-combed seed cell trays provided by TWEEC and EDSS. The township will also provide the acorns and planting materials, with students tending to the seedlings from mid-February until mid-May when TWEEC will collect them for planting in the tree nursery in the industrial district near Union Street.
Mathers said he hopes the experience will be an education in environmentalism for both younger and older students, though it will be up to the teachers how they want to tie the project in with their curriculum.
“You could have the discussion with the older children about global warming and climate change and the importance of trees. You can tie it in with the older grades quite easily, so I’m really hoping that we can get a whole lot of participation with all ages.”
Classrooms participating in the Trees for Woolwich initiative will be finalized in the next few weeks.
