Friends of Webster Trails celebrated Arbor Day and Earth Day with a weekend of trees in all sizes.
First up was planting 20 larger trees and shrubs along the Hojack Trail. The trail is a work in process after clearing under the power lines late last year. RGE donated the trees and shrubs for Arbor Day, and several of their employees joined FWT volunteers to make quick work of getting everything in the ground.
The plants are all flowering specimens, so watch for lots of color along the trail next spring. And humans aren’t the only ones to benefit: these plants are also excellent habitat and pollination sources for moths and butterflies.
RGE plans some additional work, removing dead ash trees, clearing some brush, and cleaning out drainage ditches now that the trail is starting to firm up. Watch for more work to come.
Less than 24 hours later on Saturday morning, ReTree was at it again, this time at the ReTree Nursery where 250 seedlings needed to be put in pots for a few seasons of TLC before they could find forever homes in Webster’s preserves.
A baker’s dozen of volunteers made sure the seedlings were snuggled in pots and tucked into the nursery beds. The species ranged from white and jack pine evergreens to showy black gum trees to black cherries that will provide food to many animals. Hornbeams, hop trees, button bush and silky dogwood and many others all found spots in the nursery, with plans to move them to the field in fall 2025 or later in 2026.
But ReTree wasn’t quite done. One more batch of seedlings, this time from NY DEC, was ready on Sunday. A small but mighty group added 50 more seedlings to the nursery, filling it to capacity.
ReTree volunteers will water and watch these seedlings through the summer, and then the largest seedlings from last year need to be planted later this year. Watch the Events Calendar for more information on planting workdays.
Thanks to ALL the volunteers for giving back for Earth Day, Arbor Day, and Every Day!