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Carmichaels students plant trees for Arbor Day

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Eric Morris or the Observer-Reporter

From left, Joey Kurincak and Jacob Hair, seniors at Carmichaels Area High School, and Cory Wentzel, Bureau of Forestry forest assistant manager, dig holes in which to plant northern red oak seedlings.

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Eric Morris | Herald-Standard

Carmichaels Area High School students (from left) Brady Jones, Nick Sholtis and Trenton Carter add netting to protective tubing that is encasing a recently planted seedling.

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Eric Morris for the Observer-Reporter

Carmichaels Area High School students, from left, Emily Zacoi, Elizabeth Matyus and Braelyn Brozik tie protective tubing around a recently planted seedling.

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Bureau of Forestry service forester Russell Gibbs and then Carmichaels senior Jacob Hair insert a stake next to a seedling.

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Eric Morris for the Observer-Reporter

White tubes protect northern red oak seedlings planted by Carmichaels Area School District students on a property in Jefferson Township.

In celebration of Arbor Day, students in the Carmichaels Area School District turned a hayfield into a forest.

More than 60 middle and high school students needed only a morning to plant 350 Northern Red Oak seedlings on a private residence in Jefferson Township in a project to restore a portion of land on the property.

Landowner Rebecca Trigger, a forest steward in the Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Program, received members of the high school’s Envirothon team and other students interested in the environment to plant the trees on her multi-acre property. They were joined by several Life Skill students and about 30 sixth- and seventh-graders.

“We’re planting Northern Red Oak, which is some of the most valued timber in the world,” said Trigger. “And the best Red Oak grows in Pennsylvania.”

The Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Program provides forestland owners with information and assistance to promote healthy and productive forests. While several acres of her property are already occupied by forest, a large, sloped hayfield sits vacant, unused and ripe for planting.

The Arbor Day plant, which was held the day prior to the annual holiday, was coordinated by the Bureau of Forestry.

Service forester Russell Gibbs has worked with Carmichaels on various projects since 2011.

“Rebecca wanted to plant an acre of trees to reinforce her field here and she needed a little bit of help,” said Gibbs. “Students are doing the whole process – planting seedlings, tubing, staking and putting bird nets on top.”

National Arbor Day is observed every year in the U.S. on the last Friday in April. The annual holiday encourages people to plant trees.

There are several reasons for planting trees, said Trigger, including water retention to prevent flooding, air quality improvement, wildlife biodiversity and as a mood enhancer for humans.

“I’m involved with this program because I’m grateful to live in Pennsylvania and to help the sustainability of our forests,” said Trigger. “Trees are just essential to life – human life, all life.”

The planting event was the result of Trigger’s enrollment in the Greene County Conservation District’s GRACE, or Greene County’s Reinvestment in Agriculture: Cost-Share Enhancement, Program that provides landowners resources and funding for conservation practices.

The cost-share program allocates funds that Greene County receives from Act 13 impact fees and applies them to sustainable agriculture and forestry practices for farmers and private landowners.

“We’re so fortunate to partner with a lot of local agencies right now and especially a local landowner,” said Carmichaels Area High School science teacher Kevin Willis, whose Envirothon team won the state championship a year ago.

“It’s great to be able to see people in the field who love their job. My students have gone on to do a lot of environmental related jobs, so to be able to those kinds of professionals in action is a neat opportunity for us,” Willis said.

Tree planting on Trigger’s property is the second forestry project undertaken by the conservation district since adding forestry conservation practices last year, said Lisa Snider, conservation district manager.

In total, the conservation district funded 39 projects with $180,000 last year, Snider said.

Gibbs said he hopes the students end the day not only having learned the process of tree planning but how forest management and conservation works.

“It’s not just cutting trees but regenerating the landscape. They can look at an actual forest on other side (of the property) and think this is what this can be in a hundred years,” he said.

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