2000 Trees, oh my!

2000 trees, oh MY! So far this year we have helped to plant nearly 2000 trees! We have been working with the City of Columbia’s Public Works Department and the Parks and Recreation Department to identify areas in need of trees and to plan work days to get them into the ground. We also did a tree planting with the Big Muddy Refuge Fish and Wildlife Services, and have borrowed dibble bars from them to dig the holes for the trees.

On Friday, April 16^th, we worked with Job Point’s construction crew to plant 300 trees in a strip of land between HWY 70 and HWY 63 in Columbia. When looking for volunteers to help plant the trees, a representative from Job Point said they were looking for “dirty jobs”. Job Point is a job training program, and this crew was great! 10 crew members and 2 staff showed up in work gear, complete with boots, gloves and goggles, they were ready to work! After showing everyone how to use the dibbles and plant the trees, we got started. The planting was a little difficult, as the ground was pretty solid, dry and full of gravel! But we prevailed, and got all 300 trees in the ground in about 3 hours.

On Thursday, April, 22^nd, we planned another tree planting for Earth Day. This time we were located at the City Landfill, focusing on an area of field between the compost piles and nearby Hinkson Creek. Part of the stream bank had eroded pretty extremely from last fall’s heavy rains. Our trees would help stabilize this area, as well as act as filters for any nutrients that would leach from the landfill, through the ground and into the Hinkson. We recruited volunteers, and had a trickle of people throughout the day, helping us plant 450 trees in about 2 acres of stream side land!

Rocheport Day of Caring

Students and parents planting trees and picking up trash along the River Walk Trail

Photo by Lea Langdon

It was one of those days when you weren't quite sure what the weather was going to be like when the event actually started. It looked like it was going to rain, but then again it is always possible that the rain would hold off until it was all over, and for the most part it did indeed hold off. On Saturday, April 18 we joined up with Maria Dorsey (an AmeriCorps-Vista), Friends of Rocheport, the French Club from West Junior High (here in Columbia), and Missouri River Relief to have a Day of Caring in Rocheport, MO.

With the help of about 60 students and parents, we planted 350+ trees along the Moniteau Creek, the River Walk, and in a couple of parks in town. On the clean up side of things, they had 73 volunteers and a total of about 5.7 tons of trash cleaned up, which includes an old rusted bed frame that I and couple of parents pulled out of the ground near where we were planting our trees... woohoo! You can read River Reliefs summary of the day at their Rocheport Results Page.

Look to see another post by me either later today or tomorrow (gotta get March up!)