Tree-Mendous Effort Made for Park Canopy
Oct 08, 2024 03:44PM ● By Susan Maxwell Skinner, photos by Susan Maxwell SkinnerSMUD Director Gregg Fishman (left), Kiwanis volunteer Len Ohlendorf (standing center) and SMUD Director Heidi Sanborn join volunteers in planting 12 new oaks in Valley Oak Park.
CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - Tree-lovers last week came out of the woodwork to augment the natural canopy in a local park.
The Caring Tree Project was supported by Carmichael Kiwanis Club, the Tree Foundation, the Coalition for Clean Air and SMUD.
The effort centered on Valley Oaks Park, a Mission Oaks Park District property on Eastern Avenue. Suitably, trees planted were live oaks, non-deciduous natives that will provide shade, clean air and animal habitat.
A dozen 15-gallon specimens were unloaded and placed in holes sunk by Mission Oaks Park District staff. Volunteers dug, planted, staked and mulched. For a head start in hard, inhospitable clay soil, the oaks will be deep-watered for three years.
“If we go to all this trouble, we want these trees to live,” SMUD Director Heidi Sanborn told 35 volunteers. “After three years, they’ll be watered weekly. Over-watering causes their roots to rot. If we do this right, these trees might live for 300 years.”
Youth volunteers dug in with gusto.
“Maybe my great grandkids will sit under this oak,” said a 13-year-old Girl Scout. “I won’t be here but maybe somebody will tell them kids like me helped plant it.”
Though drought, deluges and winds have been catastrophic for local canopies in recent years, weather is not solely to blame.
Girl Scout volunteers Rosie Weyant (left), Priya Hawley and Fiona Pope prep locations for new saplings.
“Many trees planted over the last century were wrong for this area,” Sanborn said. “Early developers favored varieties with limited lifespans, like the Modesto Ash. Redwoods were never meant to stand alone and depend on sprinklers. Eucalyptus trees are beautiful in Australia, not here.”
The Tree Foundation's donated saplings were chosen for survival.
“These oaks will mean cooler temperatures, cleaner air and a more beautiful environment,” Sanborn said. “They’ll also host birds. Studies have shown that birdsong increases people’s happiness.”
SMUD Director Sanborn praised volunteers whose efforts have completed five similar planting projects in five years.
“We have a caring community,” Sanborn said. “Through more events like this, we provide for the happiness of future generations.”
The Tree Foundation provided live oak saplings free of charge. Learn about Carmichael Kiwanis Giving Tree Project at www.KiwanisClubofCarmichael.com.