Greetings!
Please join us for our second
event being held to plant eighty trees at Benicia High School as a result
of collaboration between the Benicia Unified School District, Benicia Tree
Foundation, and the CA Native Plant Society. Funding provided by California
Releaf and the Valero Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement Agreement.
The Benicia Tree Foundation (BTF) has partnered with the Benicia Unified School
District (BUSD) to garner a grant from California ReLeaf to plant 80 trees at
Benicia High School (BHS). The project will be implemented in three phases,
with the second volunteer based event taking place on Saturday, March 26, 2011,
from 9am to noon. The planting will be carried out at the corner of Military
West and Denfield Avenue, at the base of the BHS athletic fields. The local
Willis Linn Jepson Chapter of the California Native Plant Society is also
supporting the project.
Janice Adams, BUSD Superintendent, remarks that “The campus tree planting
project involves planting 80 trees in front of the BHS athletic fields,
establishing a windrow that will protect one third of the campus currently
unprotected by trees. The tree plantings are designed to provide maximum
educational as well as environmental benefits. The tree plantings will provide
opportunities for engaging students in curriculum that involves issues such as
global warming and energy consumption, allowing students and teachers to take
action through applied scientific learning methods. The project will include
demonstrations of urban forestry and ecology, and emphasize the impacts of
sustainable landscape design.” Planting trees on school sites adjacent to
high-traffic corridors helps to reduce the impact of pollution on students
(referred to by researchers as “sensitive
receptors”) and teachers. Trees, when planted in sufficient quantities, also
have the ability to mitigate roadway noise and improve the visual aesthetics
school campuses. The BTF Board of Directors, comprised of Benicia residents and
volunteers, is hopeful that the positive impacts of the campus tree plantings
will be analyzed and replicated throughout the BUSD.
Wolfram Alderson, Executive Director of the BTF, states that “Unfortunately,
due to age, disease, and other factors, the tree population has been dwindling
on the BHS campus and throughout the BUSD. Students, teachers, and
administrators desire an improved tree canopy on campuses in the school
district. Like several of Benicia’s schools, the BHS campus is now surrounded
by asphalt parking, turf fields, traffic corridors, and barren hills sparsely
planted with trees. The athletic fields, lacking any protection from the wind
or shade from the sun, require excessive irrigation, and sports events can subject
participants to extremes of full-sun heat to bone-chilling winds. The planting
site will be heavily mulched, providing an ecological solution for improving
the soil that minimizes irrigation needs and reduces erosion. Trees filter
pollutants, nutrients, sediments, and pesticides while absorbing water runoff.
A study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Urban Forest
Research indicates that a medium-sized tree can intercept 2,380 gallons of rain
per year.”
Several of Benicia’s schools are located adjacent to the 780 freeway, and are
impacted by the exhaust from the estimated 58,000 cars per day that pass
through the center of Benicia. Furthermore, Benicia also happens to be centered
in a triad of three of California’s largest refineries. Benicia has the fourth
highest ozone rate in Bay Area.
Student leaders at BHS have a role on the Community Sustainability Commission
of Benicia. Benicia’s Climate Action Plan is at the forefront of efforts in
Solano County. Key goals in the Benicia Climate Action Plan include increasing
the number of trees in the community and the use of drought tolerant
landscaping. Currently, BHS trees provide shade and protection from constant
winds blowing in from the Carquinez Straits. Giant Redwoods now provide an effective
windrow in front of the school entrance, providing a majestic face to the
campus, and large Mulberry trees are among an assortment of other tree species
provide shade and a distinct sense of place in the center courtyard of the
school. Students naturally gravitate to and cluster under these trees that are
a beloved part of the campus landscape, according to Teresa Finn, BHS Teacher
and Advisor to the BHS Eco-Club. "BHS is fortunate to be the focus of this
collaboration. Trees really do do a student body good! I look
forward to watching these trees grow to the size of the trees in the main quad,
a place of grace on our busy campus,” Finn remarks.
Gene Doherty, President of the Willis Linn Jepson Chapter of the California
Native Plant Society, comments that “non-native and invasive plants now make up
the majority of the plant species we see around Benicia. We are very pleased
that this project is focused on planting trees native to California. This
project increases habitat havens for wildlife and is the final local activity
of California’s first annual Native Plant Week which recognizes the role native
plants play in sustaining biodiversity. We look forward to working with
everyone to successfully complete this and other future projects.”
Volunteers are encouraged to come dressed ready to get dirty, and bring gloves,
a hat and drinking water. The BTF encourages volunteers to bring tools
and also encourages donations of shovels, rakes, hole diggers, hoes, and other
garden implements. The BTF was established in 2010 and received its
initial funding from the Valero Good Neighbor Steering Committee Settlement
Agreement. Volunteers can sign up in advance for the project at www.beniciatrees.org/volunteer
or email wolfram@beniciatrees.org
for more information. All participants will be required to sign a waiver &
release of liability. Minors also require a signature of a parent or guardian.
This event is the second of three events planned to implement the Benicia High
School Tree Planting Project:
1. Site Clean Up and Prep / February 26, 2011: Saturday, from 9 AM to Noon (Click
here to see photos from the first event!)
2. Irrigation System Installation / March 26, 2011: Saturday, from 9 AM to Noon
3. Tree Planting & Mulching / April 23, 2011: Saturday, from 9 AM to Noon
BHS is located at 1101 Military West, Benicia, CA 94510 / Project at corner of
Military West & Denfield Avenue.