Volunteers, park employees join forces to plant native trees at Minto-Brown
Minto-Brown Island Park needed more trees. So a group of about 50 city employees and community members grabbed their gloves, shovels and saplings and planted dozens on Friday.
It was a celebration of Arbor Day, a holiday observed around the world to come together, plant trees and appreciate their importance in nature.
People were divided into small groups that included parks and recreation staff and volunteers. They dug on the ground, planted saplings, added fertilizer, covered them back with soil and watered them.
City employees provided the materials and gave out free t-shirts and coffee to all volunteers. The project was funded through the city’s infrastructure that voters approved in 2022. All of the trees were planted around parking lot 3, at the end of Southwest Minto Island Road.
Among the volunteers was three-year-old Willa Taylor, who was happily moving soil and rocks as the larger group collaborated to plant big leaf maples and other native species.
“Thought I’d come here and help plant trees,” said volunteer Arielle Tichy, who moved to Salem from Cincinnati less than a year ago.
Planting trees is beneficial to cities and the environment in many ways. Apart from generating oxygen and shade, they help cool the ground in the summer and slow climate change. Research also shows that spending time around trees can reduce stress and anxiety, lower blood pressure and improve mood.
The first Arbor Day was celebrated in 1805 in a small town in Spain, but there are records of tree planting festivities as early as 1594. The first Arbor Day in the United States was in Nebraska, when community members planted approximately a million trees in just one day in 1872.
Since then, many countries around the world have tree planting celebrations on different days of the year. Since 2020, Oregon has celebrated April as Arbor Month.
The city of Salem has been a charter member of Tree City USA for almost 50 years. To be a member, a city has to meet certain requirements such as having dedicated staff that specializes in trees, tree care ordinances, well funded community forestry programs and an Arbor Day celebration.
It also works with initiatives such as Friends of Trees and Cities4Forests to attract volunteers to plant trees and to set standards for their protection.
Contact reporter Alan Cohen: [email protected].
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Alan Cohen is an intern at the Salem Reporter and an undergraduate at Willamette University. Born and raised in Spain, he has also been involved in student journalism for three years, and is passionate about bringing a voice to underrepresented communities through ethical reporting.
