Volunteers Plant Trees at Northridge

Written by and photos by Elma Chapman

On a drizzly, cool morning in April around 50 volunteers gathered at Northridge High School to help plant 50 trees. These volunteers came from Winnebago Industries, Northridge Football, NIPSCO, Middlebury Park and Recreation Staff, the Middlebury Tree Board, and local families and friends. Some of the work had been done two days before when the Middlebury Public Works Department used their machinery to dig the holes, but there was still plenty to do.

The morning began with a welcome by Marvin Pettway of ReLeaf Michigan and a dedication ceremony and snacks. Then Carrie Tauscher, an arborist from the Indiana DNR, gave a thorough demonstration of the proper planting technique. You don’t just plop them in the hole, fill it with water, and walk away! First you (gently?) wrestle them out of the pot. Next you scrape away the dirt from the root ball so you can spread out the roots. If you don’t, you end up with what is called a “root potato” where all the roots grow inward instead of outward and are unable to find the necessary water and nutrients in the surrounding soil. If the roots are too tangled, some of them have to be cut so that they will sprout new shoots in the proper direction. The soil has to be tamped down before the tree is put in the hole and after the hole is filled back in. To get the tree to its proper depth, lay a shovel or rake across the hole, measure the depth, then measure the root ball. The hole and the root ball should be the same height. If they don’t match, change the hole – not the root ball! The final touch is adding mulch, but carefully. As the arborist explained it, “Give your tree a treat – make a donut, not a volcano.” The mulch helps protect the roots and keeps the mowers away from the new tree.

A wide variety of native trees were planted: Serviceberry, River Birch, Hawthorn, Redbud, Beech, Tu-

lip Tree, Crabapple, Black Gum, Kentucky Coffee Tree, White Oak, Swamp White Oak and Red Maple. Most of the trees were already 8-10 feet tall.

The trees were provided through a grant from the U.S. Forest Service and the St. Joseph River Basin Commission. Indiana Wood Products, Inc., the Davey Resource Group, the Michigan DNR, ReLeaf Michigan, the Town of Middlebury, and the Middlebury Tree Board all worked together to make this happen. To be ready for the day of planting, a lot of behind-the-scenes work was done in advance: planning meetings to choose the sites, selecting and ordering appropriate trees for the location, obtaining permission to plant at the chosen location, finding volunteers, and more. All of these groups were represented at the planting to provide expertise to the volunteers. Because of the prep work, all 50 trees were planted and everything was cleaned

These trees will increase the tree canopy in Middlebury, provide cooling shade in summer, be a shelter for birds and other animals, and aid in preventing soil erosion, but the main intent of the grant was for these trees to reduce the impacts from storm water runoff. Trees can capture rain on the canopy and the trunk before it even hits the ground, plus the roots will soak up the ground water. A mature tree can store up to a ton of water. Trees also improve water quality by filtering the water through the roots and transpiring the water through their leaves.

Although the skies were gloomy, it was a great day for tree planting and for our community to come together to improve our town.

851 U.S. 20, Suite 2 Middlebury 574-825-7222 54595 C R 17 Elkhart 574-293-0222