Research Paper

Tree planting and conservation

I have always had a strong passion in environmental conservation and protection in general. This is owed to the fact that I grew up in a family that natured and environmental protection and conservation was highly valued. During the holidays I would visit various environmental conservation institution and learn some of the services that they carry out with the aim of conservation the environment.

I visited the Cherry Hill woods, one of the leading forest conservation institution in the US today, on 25th of February and on 5th of March to take part in their annual tree planting and forest conservation activities. Watching each and every event unfold from the time I arrived in this place to the time I was leaving was a life changing experience for me. I was really amazed and humble by the amount of enthusiasm that certain people have towards our environment. Each year Cherry Hill Woods works with a variety of volunteers from all walks of life to provide and plant trees not only in their forest reserve area but also outside the reserve to various public and private spaces throughout the city. Tree planting and conservation project helps to connect the volunteers, who are mainly students and other environmental professionals, to the benefits of trees and foster environmental stewardship (Vancouver).

On my first volunteering day, I woke up very early, put on my working gear, and proceeded to the Cherry Hill woods. When I arrived at the gate I saw a lot of people waiting outside to be cleared. They all had come to take part in this event and from the look on their faces they were all proud of themselves for taking part in this voluntary project that is aimed at up lifting the community.

After clearance at the gate we were directed at an open gathering place where we would meet the managers of the project and guide us on what we would be doing for the better part of the day. After waiting for a while we were divided into four groups of ten and each group assigned a supervisor who came from the institution’s management team.

I had a lot of expectation and hoped to learn on new ways of promoting and preserving our environment for the benefit of mankind. One skills that I was very much interested to learn was how to properly plant a tree and ensure that it does not wither or dry out afterwards. I also wanted to learn how to identify and clear out unwanted plants from the woods so that they do not choke the planted trees.

Our supervisor, Mr. John was a very interactive individual and appeared to have a lot of passion for the job that he was doing. According gain to him, this venture was a calling and he did not seek to gain any benefit from it at all (Vancouver). We were assigned the left wing to the forest reserve which covered close to about 400 square miles. Our main obligation here was to replace all the trees that had died from the previous project with new ones and cut out any unwanted plants that were choking the forest and preventing the growth of smaller trees in this section of the wood reserve. While at it we would also talk to each other and share our experiences with environmental conservation program.

Most of the time I hanged out with Mr. John who was the senior most supervisor at Cherry Hill wood organization and I must admit that I learned quite a lot from this gentleman. According to him, the tree planting and conservation program was an opportunity for all the volunteers to get involved in the environmental protection and conservation of our natural resource. It connects all those who come to the various benefits of trees and foster environmental stewardship (American Forestry). He explained that when individuals especially students such as me engage in tree planting and protection, we can experience and see for ourselves the structure of planting tree, learn how they grow and what they need. For people who participate in the project, as the tree matures, it can be a personalized and continued way of relating what was learnt in books to visible living examples (Vancouver). The student can also develop a personal relationship with the tree and take pride in having taken part in reshaping the environment.

Before showing me how to plant trees in the correct manner and remove the unwanted materials from the woods, he took me through how the Cherry Hill wood tree planting and conservation works from the acceptance, review and approval of the project application with the organization’s administration. He further stated that the tools and equipment required for the whole process is normally provided by urban forestry. I was listening attentively and appreciating how the various Organizations harmoniously work together to achieve this program.

A while ago, I thought that I was the only one who had a strong passion about the environment mainly because the people that surrounded me knew very little about environmental protection. However, this self-perception was diminished when I saw the tremendous efforts organization such as Chery Hill take in order to ensure the conservation of our environment. Looking at the turn out that day I was surprised by the how many people in the county had such a strong zeal for environmental protection.

Mr. John then took me through the tree planting process. There was no doubt that he enjoyed every bit of what he was doing. First he showed me just the right depth of hole to dig and which type of tree plants to use during the plantation process. He explained that digging the right depth of whole will ensure that the young trees do not choke from the cover of soil (Richter).

He further explained that the weed around the hole to be planted should be cleared with their roots to prevent them from starving the young tree to death. At the same time he explained that a lot of water should be poured onto the young tree to help it establish it roots and ensure it vigorously sprout. Continuous watering should be done to the young tree and all the tall branches of the mature trees which shades out the younger tree from direct sunlight should be cut down (American Forestry). He was so detailed in his explanation and demonstration that I vividly understood everything and by the end of it all I was able to plant twenty trees correctly as I had been taught.

Furthermore, Mr. John showed as how to identify the unwanted plants in the wood remove them so as to create space for the growth of only the preferred species of trees in the woods. Those trees that grows out naturally and have weak stems are considered to be weed and are removed so that they do not offer competition in terms of food to the preferred species. According to me, this seemed to be a very important part of the whole operation since it determined the survival of the entire species.

From my service learning experience, I gained a lot of knowledge on the importance of environmental conservation and acquired a lot of skills on how to plant and conserve the trees and form an extensive canopy of woods. Indeed planting trees can honor and individual, memorize a loved one or commemorate an event. As Mr. John rightfully put it, every tree is a living legacy, a gift which grows stronger and stronger each year and a unique way of expressing the feeling of an individual.

American Forestry. Plant Tree: Restoring your woods. 16 November 2016. <https://mylandplan.org/content/how-to-plant-trees-restoring-your-woods>.

Richter, Brian. "A Collaborative and Adaptive Process for Developing Environmental Flow Recommendation." River Research and Application (2006): vol 22no.23; pp 297-318.

Vancouver. School Tree Planting. 12 May 2016. <http://www.cityofvancouver.us/publicworks/page/school-tree-planting>.