April is often a month of celebrating environmental conservation and sustainability, and holidays such as Arbor Day help reinforce those efforts.
Arbor Day, which falls on April 24 this year, is the observance of planting and appreciating trees. To honor an integral part of the environment, the city of Santa Clarita held its inaugural Santa Clarita Arbor Day Celebration, dubbed “Tree-mendous Arbor Day,” at Valencia Heritage Park on Saturday.
During the event, attendees visited various tables, including one hosted by the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency, where attendees could spin the wheel to win a plant, grab a mini shovel and bucket and fill envelopes with seeds.
The city also handed out 400 free trees and mulch for residents to add on their properties.
In addition, the Castaic Animal Shelter was in attendance for participants to meet dogs up for adoption.
“Today is a tremendous day. I’m very happy to see you. The weather cooperated, and we’re going to have a nice tree planting and a lot of fun,” Santa Clarita Mayor Laurene Weste said to the crowd. “We all know the trees are important. They give us clean air. They help us breathe. They shade us. They protect us from the sun. They protect our animals. They make our environment healthy, and they make us happy. We have an incredible urban forestry team who is responsible for the care of 95,000 trees in our city.”
According to Weste, the team trimmed close to 12,000 trees within the past year. Santa Clarita is also recognized for being a “Tree City” by the Arbor Day Foundation, which entails caring for and investing in urban forestry, while also celebrating Arbor Day.
“They [trim] every year to make sure that the trees are healthy. They also planted 900 new trees, and that is why we have been a Tree City USA for 36 years, which is a tremendous honor. There’s so much to enjoy today — go see the chainsaw carving, which is all the way at the opposite end, and you will be amazed what they have done with a huge tree stump,” Weste said. “Let’s branch out and have a good time. Let’s go lay down roots.”
Daniel Gonzalez, who works with the city of Santa Clarita in the urban forestry department, demonstrated how to properly plant a tree after the opening program.
“The branches look good — they’re green, they’re healthy. There’s no scarring on the trunk, so it looks great. We’re just going to do a little inspection of the roots to make sure everything looks fine,” Gonzalez said. “They’re going to move the tree to the hole so we can unbox it in the hole. We start by removing the bottom to make sure we expose the bottom roots. They’re going to go ahead and tease the roots to make sure that the roots can grow downward and out.”
After teasing the bottom roots, the team applies the same methods to the sides once the box is fully removed before placing it in the hole. From there, the volunteers were able to move the dirt back.
Following the demonstration, multiple groups were dispersed throughout the park to grow more trees for the coming generations to enjoy.
