Hello, spring! The ruby-crowned kinglet twittering bubbly outside my window is the perfect soundtrack for a good mood fueled by some recent stewardship successes. Isla, Amanda, Remy, and I just kicked off our field season with a series of tree plantings, so let’s take a moment to sing about it!
The Mission
From willows and alders along the streambank to towering maples, oaks, and hickories on the floodplain, trees and shrubs work wonders for rivers, wildlife, and people. We looked at the 100+ sites that we protect throughout Vermont and picked out the ones where the riparian buffers needed some tender, loving care.
Down here in southern Vermont, two of our sites stood out. We saw room to plant an additional forty feet of riparian forest on both sides of the beautiful walking path at Green River Meadows in Guilford, a 17.7-acre former junkyard that we cleaned up and turned into a floodplain park with our partners at the Green River Village Preservation Trust. Weaver Field – a locally loved and frequently flooded open space along Halliday Brook in West Brattleboro, owned by the Westgate Housing Community – was also calling out for trees.
Isla and Remy smile at the thought of a more robust riparian buffer along the beautiful Green River.
Amanda ordered 720 native trees and shrubs from the Intervale Conservation Nursery and Cold Stream Farm, all carefully selected based on the soil conditions at our two sites. That’s a lot of plants! We knew we could pull it off if we had a little help from our friends.
Getting Things Ready
When the ground had thawed and the trees were ready, things started moving fast. Isla and I loaded the car with wooden stakes to mark out the planting areas. Meanwhile, Amanda picked up the trees from the nursery and handed them off to Remy to make the trip south with this precious cargo. The next day, our first volunteer crew would arrive.
Remy and Isla prepare to sort the trees for Weaver Field and Green River Meadows.
Thanks to D and E Tree Experts of Guilford who donated wood chips for mulching, we had a cool, moist place to bury the root balls overnight.
Steve and Linda Lembke of the Green River Village Preservation Trust met us at the meadow to help us get everything ready. Taking their designers’ eyes to the land, they helped us chart out a new route for the walking path that creates a lovely balance of closeness to the flowing water and extra space for the new trees.
Isla pounds stakes into the ground to mark the new path and planting area.
While we were on-site, we got a special delivery! Have you ever felt the burn that comes from hauling 50 buckets of water from the stream to water your newly planted stems? Not at this tree planting. The Town of Guilford generously loaned us a 500-gallon water tank to set up at the edge of the planting area, and a neighbor loaned a water pump system to refill it more easily from the river.
A nearby neighbor delivered a water tank and pump to make watering trees a breeze.
More neighborly kindness awaited us and our trees in West Brattleboro. As we pulled up to Weaver Field, Isla noticed a crew of arborists hard at work on a nearby property. “Should we do it?” she asked. Yes! We walked up to the crew lead and explained what we were up to. Sure enough, Bob Everingham, arborist and owner of All About Trees, agreed to donate a quarter truckful of wood chips to protect the trees overnight.
Bob Everingham and Jude Fitzgerald of All About Trees drop off a surprise wood chip donation at Weaver Field.
We staked out the buffer, watered the trees, and tucked them into bed in the pile of woodchips.
Planting Days
More than three dozen amazing volunteers came together to dig holes, plant trees, and deliver the mulch and water that will help the trees thrive. We met neighbors from Brattleboro and Guilford, members of the Westgate Housing Community and the Green River Village Preservation Trust, and even college students making a special trip to do good during their school break. There must be something special about flowing water, birdsong, earth, and fruit snacks, because I saw no other fuel that could have made these folks so unstoppable!
Isabel Bowman of Windham County NRCD is always in her element planting trees with volunteers.
Local families banded together to get over five hundred trees in the ground!
From digging holes to mulching and watering, everyone has a job.
Guilford Tree Warden and frequent VRC volunteer Matty Stinchfield celebrates our collective efforts with some fishing.
Vermont River Conservancy Treasurer and swimming hole aficionado Dave Hajdasz mulches a newly planted tree.
Dave Hajdasz, Joanna de Bear, Hayley Kolding, and Steve and Linda Lembke celebrate a successful planting day. (Photo: Isabel Bowman)
Three college students came out to get their hands dirty and learn more about tree planting at Weaver Field!
All ages enjoy tree planting even one and a half year old’s!
Little mice like to help with tree planting too.