Coshocton students plant tree on Arbor Day

COSHOCTON – Coshocton Elementary School students planted a Greenspire Linden tree at school Friday morning in honor of Arbor Day before heading home with white pine seedlings to plant there.

Student Council officers planted the linden tree on school grounds, surrounded by classmates who learned how to plant their seedlings. All of the trees were donated by the Coshocton City Tree Commission and the Coshocton Soil and Water Conservation District.

“I think it was really great for the environment,” said Kindall Shaw, 12, a sixth-grader and Student Council president. “It’ll be around for many years, and it’ll represent the class of 2021.”

The linden tree, now about 9 feet tall, will grow to a height of about 50 feet, said Tom Heading, Tree Commission member.

The commission and conservation district joined efforts to provide the trees “to promote a love of trees,” Heading said. “Trees add so much to our community and our environment. They’re here for the long term.”

Trees help clean the air, abate stormwater, increase property values, decrease cooling costs and block the wind, Heading and fellow commission member Ann Miller said.

“They help with the emotional environment, too,” Heading said. “People are calmer around trees.”

Conservation District Administrator Deb Bigelow stressed the importance of space, water, sunlight and soil for the students’ pine seedlings, telling them to keep the trees’ roots straight during planting and to mark them with a ribbon to avoid their being run over by a lawn mower.

The 3-year-old pine seedlings should grow up to 60 feet tall within 20 years, Bigelow said.

“This is a living plant,” she said. “It is not a toy. Talk to your mom and dad about where to put it. This little pine tree here, in five or six years, will be as tall as me. That’s fast for a tree.”

For students unable to plant their trees at home, Bigelow suggested asking permission to plant it at a relative’s home.

“Try to plant it somewhere where you get to watch it grow,” she said.

jwilliams6@coshoctontribune.com

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