Woodlands got a little woodier this week as about 500 local students planted trees for Arbour Day.
About 500 Grade 1 students from nine St. Albert schools romped through Willoughby Park Wednesday to plant trees and learn about forests. The kids and Coun. Malcolm Parker were there to take part in the city’s annual Arbour Day celebration.
This was an all-time attendance record for the event, says organizer Erin Gluck, one that added about 1,000 new trees to the city’s forests. This year’s Arbour Day is extra special, she notes, because it takes place during the International Year of Forests.
“A forest is just as important as a turf area or a sports field,” she says, and adds habitat, oxygen and beauty to communities. A forester herself, she says it’s very rewarding to see children get interested in trees and the outdoors.
Megan Shelley, a Grade 1 student from nearby Keenooshayo Elementary, notes that all trees need soil, water and light to survive. “I like trees because some trees have fruit on them, and you can eat them once they grow,” she declares, such as (according to her) strawberries, blueberries, watermelons, bananas, apples and potatoes.
Parks labourer Dara Bell says she still remembers planting an Arbour Day tree near Muriel Martin more than a decade ago. “It’s always cool to see the kids’ faces. They’re always really happy and have a lot of fun … they can come back with their parents and watch [the tree] grow and see that they’ve added their little part to the community.”
This was the second consecutive Arbour Day at Willoughby Park. About half of the trees planted there last year are still alive, Gluck says.
City council wants you to help in the fight against black knot.
Council directed administration this week to create an ongoing yearly campaign to get private property owners to help control the spread of black knot. The motion was in response to a presentation from former parks planner John Beedle, who brought a sample of a plant infested with black knot to council. Beedle had been asked to speak as part of a motion on the official plants of St. Albert.
Black knot is a fungal disease that infests cherry, plum and mayday trees, according to arborists, such as the dark-purple-leaved Schubert chokecherries found throughout St. Albert. The disease creates large black galls on branches that can cut off circulation and eventually kill the host plant.
Staff do regular sweeps of the city for the disease, says operations supervisor Mike Jones, but can only do small regions at a time as they have just three trained pruners. “It spreads quite fast,” he adds, and is often able to re-infest previously cleared areas. They pruned almost every tree in Heritage Lakes in 2009, for example, only to see them re-infected last year. “This year was a really bad year.”
Staffers run occasional ads in local papers about black knot and have information on it on their website, Jones says. “If people see [black knot], we certainly appreciate the calls here.”
It’ll be a challenge-and-a-half for the city to get black knot under control, says Jim Hole, co-owner of Hole’s Greenhouses and Gardens, as it’s well established in our natural areas. “It can come from people’s backyards or from the ravines.”
Lime-sulphur powders can protect trees from it, but there’s no cure short of pruning once it has taken hold. “If [people] don’t control it on their maydays, then it’ll just jump to city trees.”
For tips on spotting and treating black knot, visit www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/faq7622.
