13 New Trees Planted in the Mill Creek Meadow!

Many thanks for the great turn out for last Sunday’s tree planting.  It was a fun time and everyone chipped in and made quick work of a significant step for the stewardship of our land.  We had help of both young and more mature folks.  The kids included Maddi Karabin, Max Karabin and Brody Kaiser.  Non-kids were led by Jim and Amy White and their son, James, along with John Springer and yours truly.  Other adults were Ann and Roy Draper, Mary Ellen Trusheim, Helen Springer, Judy and Tom Pappenhagen, Sandi Leung, Pat and Fran Loeffelholz, Chris Hull, Lauri Rickard, Brian Coleman, Jodi and Jay Karabin, Melissa Bryson, Rudy Nyhoff, Rob Kaiser and Ryan Meadow (Ryan was a first-time visitor who decided at the last-minute to help us with the planting).

Special thanks to Jim Zilch and John Springer who helped dig the holes prior to planting day, and Kris Tosh-Morelli who graciously donated her time and red pick-up truck to deliver a load of free mulch courtesy of the City of Newark.  Extra special thanks to our Roots and Shoots youngsters and instructors who lugged out about three hundred feet of hose during their regular Sunday class so that the new trees could be properly watered.

Our all-star line-up of new trees include a Red Maple, a White Oak, two Scarlet Oaks, three Tuliptrees, a Sweetbay Magnolia and three Eastern White Pine trees.  Our Meadow Stewards also transplanted a Tuliptree and a Red Maple as part of this effort.  The trees should now go dormant and get a good winter’s rest, but we will need more help next spring and summer making sure the trees are adequately watered.

A special thank-you again to Jim White of the Ashland Nature Center who advised us on the kinds of trees to plant, helped prepare the site, and was able to purchase the trees for us at wholesale prices. On planting day, Jim reminded us that the Red Maple could easily live for eighty or ninety years, and that the oaks could last a couple of hundred years or more.  That sounds like pretty good news for the insects, birds and other critters that will make the new trees their home.

All-in-all, we’re off to a great start in creating our Mill Creek “Woods for the Wild”!

– Jamie Kegerise