Dig out the old and plant the new.
Essentially, that’s the plan that county government, assisted by students and corporate volunteers, have in mind to commemorate national observances that will take place over two consecutive Fridays this month.
One is Earth Day on Friday and the other is Arbor Day on April 29, Bartholomew County Parks Director Rich Day said.
The 2022 plans are more ambitious in an effort to cap off the bicentennial celebrations of Columbus and Bartholomew County, Day said. Many of last year’s planned activities were either canceled or scaled back due to the pandemic, he said.
Preparations for the upcoming events began on April 6th, Day said. On that day, two 16-foot trailers were driven from Columbus to pick up several new trees from Woody Warehouse Nursery, located 30 miles west of Indianapolis in Lizton.
The first tree plantings will be on Wednesday when students from Southside Elementary School will be assisting adult volunteers in planting 25 trees at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds, just south of Garden City.
In addition, a dozen new trees will be planted in the county park on the far east side of Clifford, while two will go in near Mt. Healthy Elementary School, located just off State Road 58, Day said.
All of these trees are native to Indiana, the parks director said. They are what arborists call 15-gallon trees with about a 4-inch circumference, Day said. All of them, include a substantial number of oaks, are expected to grow exceptionally tall over the decades, he said.
One of the most significant celebrations will take place on Friday at Newton Park – the newest county park west of Taylorsville that features a boat ramp to the Driftwood River.
Day had previously announced a 3 p.m. ceremony on that day to mark the transference of the land from the Bartholomew County Conservation Council to the county parks department. But in addition, 30 new trees will be placed in Newton Park four days after the ceremony.
Two trees will be planted on Tuesday, April 26 at Rockcreek Elementary School, 13000 East County Road 200S.
Also, two officials with the Bartholomew County Soil and Water Conservation District – Heather Shireman and Jenny Whiteside – will help organize what is known as a “weed wrangle,” a volunteer event designed to control the invasive plants negatively impacting public parks, green spaces and natural areas.
The local wrangle organization is called the Blazing Star CISMA (Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area). This group will work with volunteers from Cummins, Inc, and Toyota Material Handling North America, as well as Shireman and Whiteside, to find invasive plants and remove them, Day said.
Non-native plants are considered invasive when their introduction into the ecosystem is likely to cause harm to humans, animal, native plant life, the environment and/or the economy.
The Indiana Invasive Species Council lists 126 types of invasive plants or wildlife.
