Tree Stewardship Team seeks help planting almost 50 trees
The Tree Stewardship Team, a group of volunteers working with Charlotte tree warden Mark Dillenbeck, are seeking additional volunteers to help plant 28 bare-root trees alongside the town trail on State Park Road, as well as 20 trees on the grounds of the new town garage on Route 7.
The plantings will take place on Saturday, April 13, starting at 10 a.m. and, with many hands, should take about two hours.
Charlotter VJ Comai, who is also Burlington’s city arborist, stars in a video that tree planting volunteers will be emailed to see how to plant bare-root trees.
Lack of direct experience planting trees is no obstacle to volunteering. A video will be provided to all volunteers via email to show you how to plant a bare-root tree, and the holes at the planting sites will be pre-dug.
Also, members of the Tree Stewardship Team will be available to help supervise the work, which will be to install and stake the trees and spread mulch. All you need to bring, in addition to your love of trees, are gloves, a shovel and, if you have it, a large bucket for carrying wood chips. A wheelbarrow would also be helpful.
The event at the garage will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the installation of the new solar panels on the roof of the garage. Snacks and drinks will be available at both sites.
If you’d like to volunteer, send an email to either Robin Coleburn or to deputy tree warden Alexa Lewis to be added to the list. In your email you can also indicate a preference for planting at the garage site or the State Park Road site. A signup sheet for volunteers is also available at the library.
A coalition of Charlotte organizations, including the Charlotte Library, the Lewis Creek Association, the Charlotte Energy Committee, Sustainable Charlotte and the Tree Stewardship Team are coordinating a variety of Earth Month activities, from tree planting to storytelling, during the month of April to celebrate and take action to protect the Earth. Details of these events can be found on the library’s website and the town’s Facebook page.
(Vince Crockenberg is a member of Charlotte’s Tree Stewardship Team.)