As the weather gets warmer and the ground thaws, local groups are beginning the annual process of increasing the community’s stock of trees.
Coinciding with seasonal plantings throughout the area, the Interfaith Council of Franklin County will host its inaugural Earth Day celebration at Energy Park on Friday at 4:30 p.m. The event will feature Lynn Benander, president and CEO of Co-op Power, as a speaker; performances by the Juggler Meadow Morris Dancers and singer Annie Hassett; and a tree planting ceremony, during which two linden trees will be planted at the park.
About 20 information tables will be set up, with groups and businesses sharing the work they’ve done in the area of sustainability.
“We need to know what’s happening locally,” said Pamela Kelly, a member of the Interfaith Council from All Souls Church on Main Street. “Everybody has to be involved. … This is nothing small.”
Kelly said the inspiration for the nonprofit’s first Earth Day celebration stemmed from the results of a 2021 study by the Communities That Care Coalition — a group co-coordinated by Partnership for Youth at the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) and Community Action Youth Programs — which indicated that 70% of young people feel “very worried” or “extremely worried” about climate change.
“I’ve been working on climate issues for 40 years,” she said. “So I can understand that.”
Knowing what is being done to combat climate change, Kelly said, is important.
“The sense of despair comes because young people don’t realize all the things that are going on already,” she said.
Kelly commented on state legislative action on a $500 million climate change bill, as well as efforts being made to increase wind and solar energy production, and the nationwide move toward electric vehicles.
She added that the primary thing she is aware of that removes carbon from the atmosphere is trees.
“Trees breathe in carbon in the atmosphere and breathe out the oxygen,” Kelly said, emphasizing the need to make space for more trees. “We happen to be in an area with the most trees that are in forested situations in the entire region of New England.”
Other area events celebrating Earth Day include a tree planting at the Town Common in New Salem on Friday at 10 a.m., hosted by the New Salem Tree Committee. On Saturday, the New Salem Public Library is celebrating the occasion with a program featuring local musician and storyteller Roger Tincknell. The library’s event, which begins at 11 a.m., will include songs, stories and legends that celebrate and teach environmental awareness and responsibility.
Coinciding with the timing of many Earth Day celebrations, the Greenfield Tree Committee will host its annual all-volunteer community tree planting on April 30 in the neighborhood around Foster’s Supermarket.
“We’re planting red maple, American linden, (American) redbuds and hawthorns,” said Mary Chicoine, a Greenfield Tree Committee member. “We’ve done a lot of research to see what trees have high survivability rates along streets. … We’re also trying to concentrate as much as possible on native species so they support the maximum amount of native pollinators and songbirds and … butterflies and moths.”
The planting will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., beginning with a planting demonstration at the corner of Allen Street and Columbus Avenue. Attendees are advised to bring gloves and a shovel, if possible.
Chicoine said each year the committee identifies a different neighborhood for its tree planting.
“We have been sort of working our way around the more populated part of Greenfield,” she said, noting the Department of Public Works plans to concentrate its planting in the area of Valley Medical Group on Conway Street. “We try to find neighborhoods where there’s a lot of neighborhood support.”
In a few years’ time, the committee plans to continue the plantings using trees from the nursery it began last year with the help of a U.S. Forest Service grant. Chicoine said over the last two years, the Tree Committee has planted 150 trees on a quarter-acre plot of land at Just Roots on Glenbrook Drive. When it reaches full capacity, the committee expects the nursery to provide about 75 trees per year.
“The grant was awarded to the city in 2018 and it was supposed to be a three-year grant to help the city plant 800 trees,” she said. “With COVID, the grant ended up getting an extension, so it’s more like a five-year grant now.”
She noted the DPW has done a majority of the planting as part of the grant. The department has also been instrumental in watering and other maintenance.
“The event on (April 30) is just the Tree Committee’s thing, but DPW has been planting hundreds of trees since this grant started,” Chicoine said. “They have been working really hard to make this happen.”
The committee also plans to host an Arbor Day celebration on April 29 at the pocket park on Bank Row.
“One of the top goals (of the committee) is (addressing) climate change and providing as much shade as possible onto sidewalks and streets,” Chicoine said. “Trees will help to reduce stormwater runoff, and with climate change … we’re already having heavier rains. We often don’t think of them as part of the infrastructure … but they absolutely are an important part of it.”
Trees often are shown to improve the mental well-being of individuals in neighborhoods where they are, Chicoine said. They also provide a habitat for birds.
“And they’re beautiful,” she added.
Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.