[nat sound shoveling]
LAST FRIDAY, SHERIDAN ROAD SANG WITH THE SOUNDS OF SHOVELING AND GIDDY LAUGHTER. IT WAS ARBOR DAY AND STUDENTS JOINED THE NORTHWESTERN GROUNDS CREW TO PLANT NEW TREES ALONG THE STREET..
JULIE CAHILLANE IS NORTHWESTERN’S ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY AND HELPED ORGANIZE THE ANNUAL ARBOR DAY TREE PLANTING.
SHE SAYS THIS IS A BENEFICIAL WAY TO CELEBRATE EARTH MONTH AND OUR CAMPUS.
[JULIE CAHILLANE]: We don’t do it all the time, but it was a nice opportunity to let folks connect to the grounds, their sense of place, and the natural beauty that our campus provides.
CAHILLANE SAYS THE TREES BRING A LOT TO CAMPUS — BOTH IN TERMS OF SUSTAINABILITY AND GENERAL QUALITY OF LIFE.
[CAHILLANE]: Trees provide a lot of benefits, you know, they’re carbon sequestration options, so that’s good. They helped clean the air in general, but they also bring kind of well-being benefits to folks. The more greenery there is, the better.
IT CAN BE EASY TO TAKE CAMPUS’S GREENERY FOR GRANTED, BUT PARTICIPANTS AT THE PLANTING LEARNED THAT PLANTING TREES IS NO EASY FEAT.
[nat sound, shovel hitting rock]
ALTHOUGH SOME STUDENTS, LIKE ANNA MILLER, HAD NO TREE PLANTING EXPERIENCE…
[ANNA MILLER]: I’ve never gardened or let alone planted a tree.
OTHERS, LIKE ILIA ILIEV, WERE EXPERTS.
[ILIA ILIEVE]: I have a couple of trees that are pretty big. I initially planted a lot, like I probably planted between 50 and 100.
PARTICIPANTS STARTED BY DIGGING HOLES INTO THE SOIL.
[nat sound, shoveling]
[MILLER]: This is the hardest part, starting the hole.
AND THEN ROLLING YOUNG TREES PROVIDED BY THE NORTHWESTERN GROUNDS CREW INTO THE HOLES.
[nat sound, rolling trees]
GROUNDSKEEPER FOREMAN STEVE CAMBURN OVERSAW THE EVENT. HE SAYS THEY PURPOSEFULLY HAD A WIDE VARIETY OF TREE SIZES AND SPECIES PLANTED.
[STEVE CAMBURN]: A lot of these are natives. We’ve got some smaller fruit trees. We have persimmon, which is kind of unique for us to be planting. We’ve got sweet gum, which is not necessarily… It’s native, but maybe a little bit further south. We’re experimenting with that a little bit. We have some non native species kind of intermixed.
MANY STUDENTS GREW FOND OF THE TREES THEY PLANTED. ATTENDEE VICKY PENG AND HER GROUP ENDED UP NAMING THEIR TREE HOPPY, AFTER ITS SPECIES, THE HOP-HORNBEAM.
[VICKY PENG]: And it’s similar to happy.
CAHILLANE SAYS THE EVENT IS DESIGNED TO DEEPEN STUDENTS’ CONNECTIONS WITH BOTH CAMPUS AND THE NATURAL WORLD.
[CAHILLANE]: That’s what we want, you know, a sense of pride, and a sense of ownership. The natural world is good from an environmental perspective. It’s good for a campus perspective, and it helps folks engage in kind of awareness and understanding and connection to natural beauty and the benefits of our natural landscapes.
[nat sound, planting]
FOR WNUR NEWS, SAHANA UNNI.