Almost a dozen trees were planted in front of Sabine Hall Sept. 28 by Parking Lot C in an effort to help combat the heat island effect and give back to the environment.
The tree planting Arbor Day event had student volunteers, volunteers from Texas Trees Foundation, a longtime Dallas College partner, Dallas College faculty and staff helping plant 10 trees.
The event was originally supposed to take place back in the spring semester but due to inclement weather, it got moved to late September. Eric Wettengel, urban forestry manager at the Texas Trees Foundation, said that having green spaces and trees goes a long way toward reducing heat.
“Planting these trees help us make shade and helps clean the air around us.” Planting trees also helps with water runoff pollution, making a more livable space for wildlife, Wettengel added. He said he best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago but the second-best time is today.
After presenters explained Arbor Day a bit more, Tara McCain from the Texas Trees foundation led a demonstration on how to plant a tree. The hole was pre-made for volunteers. The planted trees included four red maples, four red oaks, one cottonwood and one apple tree. Albeit the apple tree does not have a partner, at least one that is known in the vicinity yet, and if it continues to not have one, it will likely not bear fruit.
While most of the trees end up being pretty large shade trees, the cottonwood tree and red oak can grow to 100-feet tall, while the red maple can go up to 50 feet.
The reason for planting the trees near Parking Lot C was to help with shade at the nearby bus stop. Omar Abukal, a volunteer at this year’s Arbor Day and a part of the Green Team at Richland, planted his first tree.
“I’m excited. It seems like a lot of fun.” Abukal added that he was excited for whacking the tree with a shovel, a step where you’re supposed to hit the tree on top of a plastic container above its roots to get it loose.
