Fall is planting season for trees. Creeksides choked by invasive Himilayan Blackberries are cleared, and the Mountains To Sound Greenway is involved in restoring these areas with native plants. Native plants provide the type of shade and shelter that spawning salmon need to survive. The plants, when more mature, also prevent erosion and create biodiversity that supports an array of wildlife, including migrating songbirds.
After a tree is tipped out of it's pot, the roots need to be teased apart, and spread wide and evenly in the hole to anchor it. This is important, because if you just pop the tree in as it came out of the pot, when a deer comes along and tugs on the foliage, the tree would pull right out of the ground.
Little K digs in with a volunteer leader and a new little friend. Here the depth of the planting is checked. Planted too low, water will pool in the clay soil and drown it. Planted too high, roots will be exposed and it could die.
They started off wearing gloves, but soon cast them aside. They wanted to feel the earth between their fingers, plus getting dirty for a good cause was just plain fun! Thankfully hot showers were on the agenda when we got home.
The were photographed for the organization's website. At the last moment Little K looks at me instead of the official photographer, decreasing the chances that this image will end up in the next newsletter. Oh well. We don't do tree planting for fame, we do it, along with all our other volunteering, because it is the right thing to do.
With proper care and protection, someday this area will be a forest again, with appropriately native groundcovers, and understory, and a high canopy of tall trees. I may not live to see it, but hopefully my daughters can come back in 60 years and point up high and tell their grandchildren, "I planted that tree, and when I was a little girl there was no forest here."
Comments