You know spring has sprung by the time municipalities celebrate Arbor Day, the national holiday dedicated to planting trees. Riverside and Brookfield each did their part Friday, April 25, with village foresters planting a tree in recognition of the day after each village’s president read an Arbor Day proclamation at a village board meeting this month.
In Riverside, fourth and fifth graders at A. F. Ames Elementary School spent about half an hour outdoors that sunny morning discussing and learning about trees at the triangle park between Repton and Southcote roads just east of the school.
The event at 9:20 a.m. was led by Riverside Village Forester Michael Collins as well as David Kusnierz, a certified arborist with SavATree, a nationwide tree care business, and Tom Guardi, a member of the Frederick Law Olmsted Society of Riverside, which donated the tree.
Assisted by Ames students, Collins planted a bald cypress tree. The men estimated it would take three or four decades for the tree to reach the height of the other trees in the park.
“This is for the future,” Kusnierz said. He told the students the planting of the tree wouldn’t benefit them but would benefit their children down the line.
Collins, Kusnierz and Guardi led the students in singing “Know Your Oaks,” a song about oak trees, to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” The song, encouraging students to “know, know, know [their] oaks” and “watch them as they grow,” named “red oaks, white oaks, bur oaks, pin oaks” and the “acorns down below.” Collins said the song originated with the Morton Arboretum.
Kusnierz handed out three varieties of oak saplings to the students and their teachers.
Fifth-grade teacher Ryan Bookler, whom the village recognized “for his ongoing efforts to engage his students in meaningful educational activities” on April 3 as part of its Arbor Day proclamation, reached out to Collins to organize the event.
“I think it’s important that the kids connect with the village government and good role models such as Michael Collins and David [Kusnierz] that are doing things that are excellent for the community,” he told the Landmark. “On Arbor Day, we want to tie to the curriculum that they’ve had, not only in fifth grade but all the grades, where they can appreciate nature, appreciate trees and understand a little bit about why trees are important. This is just another reminder, and it shows them that those trees that are up there, it’s a long process for them to get where they are.”
Bookler said he’s been partnering with Collins on Arbor Day tree plantings for his students for the last 12 years, since he started working at Ames.
“We’ve gone to the arboretum after school, across from the library. We’ve done those tree tags, where the kids had to research the benefits of having trees and how [they] can have money and improve our environment,” he said. “I’ve partnered a lot with my town. I’m involved with the local government, and I think it’s important to involve the school. Talking with my colleagues, when we’re able to bring it to the school, they are also on board with it. It’s a good experience for the kids, and they like it as well. The kids having that tree from David, they can extend what they’ve learned, take it home, and share that knowledge with their parents so it can be a family event.”
In Brookfield, Village Forester Victor Janusz led a planting of a pink-leafed galaxy magnolia tree at Candy Cane Park at 1 p.m. While heavy rain washed out the sun from the morning, Janusz was still full steam ahead. Resident Elaine Jans and Vincent Fraga, a member of Brookfield’s forestry division, helped Janusz plant the tree.
Resident Javier Rayes, who told the Landmark he moved to Brookfield for the forestry, watched the planting from under a canopy with his dog, Olive, who wore her own parka.
Janusz, as the foreman of forestry, said he tries to spread out the plantings over time between the different areas of Brookfield. He chooses the tree’s spot each year for Arbor Day based on where they could use some shade from the sun in the future and where Brookfield could stand to have a larger diversity of trees. Janusz said there were no other magnolia trees in Candy Cane Park, and the park may have lost some trees when it was redone in recent years, so he felt it was a prime candidate this year.
“I’m looking around for areas that need colors,” he said.
