Seedlings for students: Arbor Day program enters its 28th year

Posted: 4/21/2014 12:31:35 PM

Twenty-five students from Venture High School in Coeur d’Alene volunteered part of the Monday to bag and individually wrap seedlings to be distributed to fourth grade students across Kootenai County this week.

In all, 2,700 seedlings were individually tagged and bagged, according to John Schwandt, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee and member of the city’s Urban Forestry Commission.

 Since the seedling program was started in 1987, Schwandt estimates that more than 63,000 seedlings have been given to local fourth graders. The volunteers prepared the seedlings for delivery at the Idaho Department of Lands office in the Coeur d’Alene Industrial Park.

 Trees being given away include River Birch, Western Larch, Western White Pine, Flowering Dogwood, Eastern Redbud, and European Beech. The seedlings were purchased from donations made by Specialty Tree Service, Stimson Lumber Company, and Idaho Forest Group, Idaho Veneer, Potlatch Corp., Inland Empire Paper Co., Out on a Limb Landscaping, Grace Tree Service, and Northland Nursery.

 Along with the seedlings, the Fourth Grade students will receive an Arbor Day button. The designer of this year’s button, and winner of the Arbor Day Button Art Contest, is Savannah Hansen of Coeur d’Alene High School.

 Tree seedlings will also be given out at the children's programs at the Coeur d'Alene Library throughout the week. On Wednesday, April 23, Urban Forester Katie Kosanke will be giving a special presentations about Arbor Day and the benefits of trees. The pre-school program will begin at 10:30 a.m. and the school-aged program starts at 4 p.m.