Plainview’s Earth/Arbor Day Celebration
May 14, 2004
It turned into a 93° day for Plainview’s tree renovation project that was made possible by a Colorado Tree Coalition grant and matching funds from the Plainview Board of Education.
Soon after arriving at school, the Kindergarten through 4th grades started their annual clean up of the school grounds. The 5th through 12th grades headed out to the north windbreak to begin a long day of planting a new shrub row, removing dead trees or pruning live ones, planting replacements, putting 1 ¼ miles of new drip line and cleaning out the tumbleweeds and burning them. All told, many of the workers traversed the 1,340 foot length many times! By the end of the productive day many were sunburned, sore footed, muscle weary and exhausted, but the results were gratifying. A total of 147 trees were planted.
In 1963, community members began the efforts of establishing trees at the school; therefore, many of these trees are old and suffering from drought, extreme temperatures and disease. Every few years there is a project to insure the viability of all trees on the property. It is a great way for students to learn about forestry and have ownership in their school. Many of the adults commented that the students were pleasant, eager, hard workers who were great to work with.
The following helped make the day a success: Plainview Junior and Senior High students; NRCS-Marvin Watson, Marty Miller and B.J. Jones; Colorado State Forestry- Donna Davis and Shelly van Landingham; Colorado State Cooperative Extension- Bruce Fickenscher; Plainview School Board- Mike Lening, Monte Stum, Bob Weber and Jay Specht; Community Members- Linda Stum, Gail and Ryan Koeller, Dan Specht, Benny Frey and George Ellicott; and Plainview Staff- Cheri Hopkins, Ruth Fees, Tom Pape, Jake Befort, Jay Wilson, Sharon Arns, Brenda Fickenscher, Wanda Rohlman, Susan Greenfield, Dorothy Ellicott and Leo Specht. Also, the school cook’s- Cora Coffman and Sharon Scott- served a delicious meal to all the help at noon. We appreciate all the 56 individuals who helped last Wednesday.