Two staff members of Davey Resource Group, shown in the florescent jackets, provide instruction on planting trees to the volunteers.

Text and Photos
By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — It was a chilly Saturday morning today, Nov. 2, for Warsaw’s Community Tree Planting Day at Center Lake, but it didn’t keep approximately 30 volunteers from coming out and helping to plant trees along the new walkways at Central Park and continue the treeline in Bixler Park along SR 15, north of the tennis courts.

The biggest challenge wasn’t the weather, but the hardened ground due to the drought. The goal was to plant 28-30 trees, but after 45-minutes very few volunteers were able to remove more than several inches of dirt.

The event was the result of the city being a grant recipient of approximately 100 trees.

The volunteers included individuals bringing along a friend or two, some were families. One family had a son in Cub Scouts. Another family wanted to do more volunteering for the city and to get their children involved in volunteering, feeling this was a good start.

Matt Mason, right, jumps on the shovel to continue removing the top soil to plant one of the trees along SR 15 in Bixler Park. From left are Sam Mason a Cub Scout, Melanie Mason and Ellie Mason, who all pitch in.

Jackson Longenbaugh, assistant city planner, explained the town pursued a grant last fall through Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute. Iris Sorrell, an IU graduate student who oversaw the project, explained further. “This is part of the McKinney Climate Fellowship through IU, through the Environmental Resilience Institute,” said Sorrell, adding the funds came from a USDA grant.

She further explained the USDA outlines the cities that would be a part of the grant and Warsaw applied. The downtown area fit the USDA outline.

Longenbaugh noted “a lot of our parks were included in that jurisdiction and we thought it was a good opportunity to put the trees here (Center Lake) for everyone to use in the future.” He noted the 100 trees will be planted around parks in that jurisdiction as well as on some private properties. Trees will also be planted between now and December at Fribley Field, Richardson-DuBois Park and Hire Park.

Sorrell, who worked with the city from May to August, determined, with Larry Plummer, parks superintendent, where trees would go. She also coordinating a survey of what types of trees people wanted to see. She said once the area was outlined and how many trees, there were some left. She accessed the map again, found additional locations on private property and went door to door.

Some of these areas include: Trinity Methodist Church, Animal Medical Center, Chamber of Commerce building, north of the former Marsh building on Winona and Warsaw Meadows.

“Today, all that is coalescing to right now being able to plant them,” Sorrell stated. Davey Resource Group will handle or contract out the planting of the remaining trees along with the maintenance of all trees under the grant for the next three years. At the conclusion of the three years, responsibility will fall onto the parks department for those in city parks, and the private property owners.

The trees are mostly flowering ornamental trees, with a few larger trees. Some of the trees include Allegheny serviceberry, American hornbeam, poplar tulips, black gum, white oak and river birch. “All are native and an exact fit for the site they are in,” said Longenbaugh. Sorrell added the survey indicated the flowering trees were what most people wanted. “They look really good downtown,” she said.

Longenbaugh said the planting of trees in the park is a good opportunity to “increase awareness for trees downtown, trees in urban environments. Getting some volunteers down here to help is super awesome.” He further said it is a “great chance to create a tree canopy that benefits everyone here in Warsaw. There’s so many benefits to trees in general. …

“We really don’t have a lot of tree resources here in the city. We don’t have an arborist. We don’t have any programs like that,” said Longenbaugh. “I think that really helped is being awarded this (grant) and how hopefully we can create some awareness, initiatives in more like urban grant awareness initiatives, whether its tree maintenance, tree removal, invasive species or just getting more trees.”

Additionally, Sorrell stated “the big thing we’re looking at in this area, if you get an aerial view, it is a lot of asphalt and concrete. Those soak up so much heat … so trees are able to: shade the area more, especially along these walkways, which is what we’re aiming for and it (the tree) actually reflects more light back up … helps cool. Shade a lot of times cools the area almost 10 degrees more than if you’re out in the sun.”

Warsaw has not been designated a Tree City, but Longenbaugh indicated there has been some discussion about applying for such a designation. However, he’s still learning what that designation truly means as a resource. “These are our first step aiming for more environmental programs or maintenance here in the city.”