CARMICHAEL, CA (MPG) - How many volunteers does it take a plant a tree?

More than 50 Kiwanians, SMUD employees, Carmichael Park District staff and other workers got National Clean Air Day off to a healthy start last week by planting saplings in La Sierra Community Center. The landscaping replaces Modesto ashes whose demise (through natural attrition) reduced shade for sports events and for the Californian Montessori Project School campus.

Donated by Sacramento Tree Foundation, 12 new trees included willow oaks, frontier elms and Zelkovas. All are varieties chosen to tolerate Sacramento drought and growing extremes of climate change. “SMUD recognizes we’re in a climate emergency” explained SMUD director Heidi Sanborn.  “We’re on a path to achieve zero carbon emissions from our power supply by the year 2030. As a utility company, we lead the nation in setting this goal. We support the Tree Foundation because plants take carbon from the atmosphere to the soil. We’re combatting urban heat islands by providing shade. These trees will grow big. They’ll partially cover hot asphalt and help keep the schoolyard cool.”

Sanborn is also a Carmichael Kiwanis member and joins Len Ohlendorf in chairing the club’s Giving Tree Project. This program aims to beautify, to improve air quality and to increase shade at local schools. “We’re planting trees to give back to the community and to help kids,” she told volunteers who showed up to aid the Clean Air Day effort. “We’re Kiwanians -- that’s what we do.”

Wielding a shovel, volunteer Rich Desmond said he knew many other hot spots in his district that would benefit from such efforts. “I’m proud to be a member of a club that’s doing something so great for our future,” said the County Supervisor.

Montessori Project’s 650 students gain a future hallway of shade. “We’re excited to watch our kids and these trees grow together,” said School Superintendent Brett Barley.

Heidi Sanborn sought funding for the dig-in from the California Coalition for Clean Air. The organization supplied $1000, enabling rental of equipment to dig holes in rock-hard playing field clay. Carmichael Park District staff dug trenches and installed irrigation. “This project is a great partnership between non-profits and community agencies,” approved Sanborn.  “We hope it’s the first of many tree plantings we’ll achieve in the area.”

Learn about Carmichael Kiwanis at www.kiwanisclubofCarmichael.com

Project sponsors also include California Coalition for Clean Air; Sacramento Tree Foundation; SMUD; CRPD.