Byron Center — Thanks to the tree-mendous efforts of Nickels Intermediate’s Student Leadership team, their school’s campus got 100 times more green.
The Kent Conservation District reached out to partner with Nickels to plant 100 tree seedlings on Arbor Day, as part of their Forest to MI Faucet project.
Racing against dark rain clouds, conservation coordinator Ryan Wilemski demonstrated how to prep the seedlings for planting and how to dig the correct sized hole in the soil.
“Healthy trees need their roots to be wet,” Wilemski said, as he planted the first white pine seedling. “One down, 99 to go.”
Principal Tom Trout and the student leaders spread out across a stretch of grass behind the playground. They worked in small groups to dig holes in the soil and clear out rocks. Some obstacles in the ground were stubborn, so sixth-grader Mason Spiech said they had to “chop up the soil like a Michelin star chef.”
After the roots were placed in not-too deep, not-too shallow holes, students gave them a generous drink of water.
“We’re planting a border of trees around our school for Arbor Day,” fifth-grader Charlie Foster said. “They’re good for the environment and they give us oxygen.”
The new Forest to MI Facets initiative, led by a team from the Department of Natural Resources Forest Stewardship Program, teaches Michiganders how forests protect drinking water. The project builds on the national Forests to Faucets 2.0 analysis, which identifies how watersheds with forests covering more than half of the land area tend to have better water quality than those with fewer trees.
“We’re assisting communities across the state to plant trees in areas not near forests, because studies have shown that when homes are built near forests, it costs less to purify the drinking water,” Wilemski said.
He explained how they work with public and private land owners to determine what species of trees would grow well on their land. Nickels students planted white spruce, red maple and white pine — Michigan’s state tree.
“White pine does really well in sandy soil, which we have a lot of in West Michigan,” Wilemski added. “White spruce is an evergreen that we already know grows well in the area.”
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