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With those words of encouragement, Roosevelt Elementary School teacher Deborah Nied led her 22 students out of the classroom and into the dappled sunlight of a late-winter afternoon to spend an hour planting conifer trees on City of Olympia-owned property along Mission Creek.
The students’ enthusiasm for the task at hand was infectious as their feet skipped and jumped the four blocks to the 3.5-acre habitat restoration site off Central Street.
“I like getting out in the fresh air,” exclaimed Derek Adrian, 11, one of the fourth- and fifth-grade students making their fourth and final trip to the project site. “On a high energy day, I can plant seven, eight or nine trees.”
This was shaping up as a high-energy day.
Soon the students were getting their hands and knees dirty, working along side their teacher and city employees, planting cedar, spruce and hemlock seedlings on the west side of the stream.
The 1,000 seedlings planted by the students will help invigorate a 500-foot section of stream bank devoid of conifer trees, said Michelle Stevie, a senior program specialist in the city’s storm and surface water program. The trees will provide shade, wildlife habitat and, in the decades ahead, large woody debris to the stream and forest floor, she said.
“We’re helping the Earth by planting these trees,” said Haylee Dean, 11, as she tamped a hemlock seedling into place.
The project is part of an environmental education program called OLYWAter, which links Olympia grade-school children with city employees and educators who teach them about water quality and urban watershed health, meeting school curriculum requirements as well.
Perhaps most important, it gives the students a chance to connect with nature in their urban neighborhood.
“The students are getting invested in this property,” Nied said. “Now they want to come back and remove the English ivy and holly.”
Jacob Higgins, 11, spent much of his time the other day using his considerable bundle of energy to pull ivy off of trees.
“Ivy – I know it’s invasive,” he said.
Other students said they looked forward to returning to the Mission Creek property in the months and years ahead to monitor the growth of the trees they planted.
“I come here after school and pick up garbage,” said 10-year-old Daisy Linn, who lives a block away.
By all accounts, the students took their teacher’s advice to heart: They enjoyed their last day of tree-planting along Mission Creek.
John Dodge: 360-754-5444
