Joe and I, along with Laurel, who was in town visiting (brave and daring), struck out with a small group of geography students Saturday morning to attend a tree planting out on Green Island. It has been a very long time since I went tree planting...at least since high school. And oh my goodness, it is so satisfying.Our group consisted of about 12 people, but the volunteer 'task force' was about 100 to 150 when we got there. A bunch of friendly and funny people gathering around eating organic pop tarts and bagels or enjoying coffee or apple cider. (I'm not going to lie. I ate a pop-tart. It was delicious.)
The McKenzie River Trust had 14,000 trees to be planted to
restore the riparian habitat along the McKenzie River. That's right 14,000 trees. It was kick ass. We had about 15 people per group and a set of rows we were responsible for. So we spent the morning leap frogging each other as we planted (in pre-dug holes--thank goodness) a nice variety of trees, including: oak, cottonwood, red alder, valley ponderosa pine and big-leaf maple to name a few. I think I could even identify some of these trees now. In four hours the task was done.
It was glorious and immensely rewarding. Although, I woke up this morning feeling like I had been in a permanent crouch all night. So stiff.It was a beautiful sunny day, punctuated with funny story telling, some politics, some Micheal Pollan talk, fly-fishing tales, and some tree-lovin'...I actually saw a little girl run up and put her arms around a seedling as tall as her and give a big hug.
*Thanks to Leslie for the photos*
1 comment:
If I remember from high school - I planted all the fucking trees while you and Evan Hatch stood there in the rain.
Puppies!
Post a Comment