Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Claire Becker, Lora Wobbema, Ty Jerrell and Talan Gehrtz (back row) handed out trees to students at NR-S School on Friday, May 5 as part of Arbor Day festivities in New Rockford. Pictured here is Mrs. Burkhardsmeier's second grade class.
NR-S sixth graders with their scotch pine trees.
Mrs. Koepplin's third grade class with their scotch pine trees.
On Friday, May 5, NR-S students in grades K-6 received trees from the Eddy County Soil Conservation District (ECSCD) to celebrate Arbor Day, as well as the Tree City USA Celebration and the School Tree Project.
New Rockford City Commission President Stuart Richter declared May 5 as Arbor Day at the commission's regular meeting on May 1.
High school students Ty Jerrell and Talan Gehrtz of ECSCD handed out the trees, while New Rockford Tree Board member Claire Becker and National Honor Society member Lora Wobbema taught the kids about the trees and how to plant them.
There were 200 scotch pine trees handed out in total.
Becker and Wobbema told elementary students that scotch pine trees grow to become very large, and therefore need plenty of space around them wherever they're planted.
Each group took a class photo once the trees were handed out, and two more of those photos are printed on page A2.
According to Shannon Anderson, district manager of the Eddy County Soil Conservation District, the trees were planted and raised for the first few weeks of their life at the Towner State Nursery in Towner, N.D.
Anderson said the project was funded by a North Dakota Association of Conservation District Urban Grant in the amount of $1,800. Among other expenses, the grant helped pay for the individual trees, their shipping and handling and the bags and tags they were handed out with.
Anderson said she hopes to get another grant for this time next year.
