PETERSHAM — It’s Arbor Day all month long in Petersham, with a new grant helping fuel enthusiasm for the flora that significantly outnumber residents.
Petersham was one of just eight towns to win an Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Grant from the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation this month.
The DCR awarded $14,114 to the Petersham Forest and Shade Tree Committee for tree plantings, public workshops, school programs and invasive plant removal. The DCR matching grants aim to help towns foster public trees and forestry, with plantings and educational programs. All grant funds must be matched by donations and in-kind support.
Petersham begins its year of free tree-themed programs April 22 at 7 p.m. in the Petersham Memorial Library with “Mushrooms, Forests and You: Demystifying the Fungal Kingdom,” a seminar by Matthew Shreiner.
The town will then celebrate Arbor Day on April 30, a day after the fact, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Petersham Common, with family-friendly activities including tree planting, a tree-themed relay race, an ask-the-arborist table, invasive plant and insect activities and tree-themed games and snacks.
Throughout the month, see how Center School fifth-graders illustrated the Arbor Day theme, “Trees Grow with Us and for Us,” for a state-wide Arbor Day poster contest.
A new tree tour made possible by the Cultural Council highlights 15 significant trees throughout town, selected by a community nomination process. Maps will be available at Arbor Day and at townofpetersham.org.
Starting Arbor Day at the Country Store, Petersham Library and Art Center, hand-made reusable tote bags will be available. At Arbor Day on the Common, bags will be filled with firewood from the local Wood Bank for a $15 donation to the Petersham Tree Fund.