School children help ranger plant 18,000 trees at lake  

Zane Clark (right) and Alecs Burger, third-graders at Hillsdale Elementary, work together to plant a tree during the Trees for the Future event at Hillsdale Lake in Kansas. (Courtesy photo)

Jun. 26, 2007

By Diana McCoy
Kansas City District

A home grown effort by one U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ranger has been taking root in Hillsdale, Kan., for the past 20 years.

Hundreds of students, teachers and parents from Hillsdale Elementary School and various volunteers took part in the annual Trees for the Future event at Hillsdale Lake in Paola, Kan., this year, marking the event's 20th anniversary.

Jim Bell, a park ranger at the Corps' Hillsdale Lake, started the event to create interest and provide a hands-on program encouraging children to establish a wildlife habitat.

There are more than 8,000 acres of land open to public hunting for deer, turkey, doves, quail, squirrels, rabbits and waterfowl.  Staff at the lake continually work toward making the land the perfect habitat for the animals, Bell said.

"With the help of the elementary school, we've recreated fence lines and split large fields with tree lines in order to reduce field sizes," he said. "I started the program because it sounded like a lot of fun for the kids to get their hands dirty and give something back. Also, the kids get a little ownership in the lake. These are their trees."

The efforts of Bell's program have already taken root. Trees planted 20 years ago are about 15 to 20 feet tall now and producing acorns and walnuts.

"Everyone looks forward to this event every year," he said. "The entire Hillsdale Elementary School makes it out here, including the teachers and even a lot of parents."

Students enjoyed a break from the classroom with 70 degree weather and slight winds.

"This is my third year coming out here to plant trees," said Cindy Graves, a parent.
 
"We've planted eight trees so far," said Alecs Burger, a third-grader who was working with his friend, Zane Clark. "That's a record!"

Bell said one of the fifth-grade teachers thanked him for keeping the program going.

"She thinks the kids really need programs like this," Bell said. "She's been here for all 20 years and said there's at least three generations of people coming back to this event now."

Bell said they planted 1,025 trees this year alone, and 18,000 "wildlife friendly" trees so far throughout the history of the event.

"We've planted about 15 species of trees at 13 different areas around the lake," Bell said.

This year, trees were provided by the Marais des Cygnes Riparian Program, but in the past, trees have been provided by the National Tree Trust, Quail Unlimited, Miami County Conservation District and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Special for this year was an award presented to a volunteer couple.  "We also surprised a volunteer couple today with a National Call to Service Award," Bell said. "It's for volunteers who serve at least 4,000 hours. I think by the end of the summer, they'll have racked up around 10,000 volunteer hours."

Bell said he plans on continuing this event as long as there is a need for new planting sites, which will not be hard to find on a 13,000-acre project.

"I think this year's event went really well," he said. "We had about a half an inch of rain a few days after the planting, so I think the trees will do really well."