FA students plant trees at PCSWCD’s Law Farm

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE FOREST — Foxcroft Academy students, from left, Annie Rich, Callie Bates and Renee Shorey were among a group of over a dozen science pupils who spent a day planting trees at the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District’s community forest at the Law Farm in Dover-Foxcroft on May 29. The district had been awarded an approximate $7,000 Project Canopy grant, which was used to fund the purchase of 1,200 trees.

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT —  Earlier in the year the Piscataquis Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) was awarded a Project Canopy grant of a little more than $7,000, and these monies are being used to purchase 1,200 trees, as well as interpretive signs for the public areas, at the organization’s community forest at the Law Farm off the Milo Road.

During the day on May 29 the PCSWCD had help from a group of just over a dozen Foxcroft Academy students in planting a portion of these trees purchased with Project Canopy funds. “It is AP science and elective science, a mixture of juniors and seniors and a few sophomores,” said Foxcroft Academy teacher Julie Willcott, who was joined by several of her colleagues in the day of joining classroom learning with hands-on applications at the Law Farm.

“Right now they are planting,” said PCSWCD Educational Coordinator Kacey Weber. She said the Foxcroft Academy students and their three teachers “will probably be doing between 200 and 300 trees and the rest will be planted by volunteers and board members.”

The trees, a variety of Maine hardwood species that will be able to withstand the region’s climate, will not only fill in gaps in the community forest but will also provide ecological diversity and attract birds and other animals to the area. “The concept is to develop the community forest and to be able to educate the public,” Weber said, mentioning the information on the interpretive signs.

“This site we are working on is part of our loop trail and it will tie in with future workshops,” she said as the PCSWCD collaborates with schools and the community to educate about natural resources.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom FILLING THE FOREST — Chyo Kim, front, and Nathnael Feleke of Foxcroft Academy plant two of the 1,200 hardwood trees the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District is placing at its Law Farm in Dover-Foxcroft. On May 29  Foxcroft Academy science students and teachers helped the district by planting several hundred of these young trees.

Weber said Scotch pine trees, an invasive species, were removed using sustainable forestry practices. “We are replacing it with hardwood trees that are native to this area,” she said. In the cut portions of the community forest string lines were set with color-coded tags placed at intervals to indicate to the students and others where to plant and what species to put in the soil.

“We are planting bur oak, black walnut, hazelnut and butternut,” PCSWCD Executive Director Joanna Tarrazi said. “The trees here they are all hardwood and they are all going to increase the biodiversity here at the community forest and they are going to increase the types of wildlife here.”

Tarrazi said the 1,200 trees being planted have all been growing in nurseries for several years. She said the young trees are protected by Tubex tree shelters, made from  all-natural products that will safely degrade in 5-7 years as the hardwoods grow.

“In addition to these trees Fedco Trees of Waterville, when they heard about the Project Canopy grant, donated additional trees to the project,” Tarrazi said. She about about 30 new trees including species such as dogwood, plum and winterberry.

“That’s a wonderful donation to go along with the lines here,” Tarrazi said.

“We are really, really excited because the district was given this property in 2009,” Tarrazi said about the Law Farm, one of the PCSWCD’s two parcels of public land. The other is the demonstration forest in Williamsburg Twp., and both serve as inviting and educational outdoor community spaces.

“It is very exciting to be part of community forest projects,” she said, adding that all three PCSWCD staff members and three of the board of directors have forestry backgrounds. “All of our board members are volunteers, and we are so grateful for them.”