Rotary, city plant trees in Northside park
ifteen Mexican sycamores, cedar elms and chinkapin oaks have a new home in Northside Neighborhood Park on Adler Road as part of
FBoerne’s Arbor Day celebration.
About a dozen members of the Boerne Noon Rotary Club showed up to plant the 15 trees, donated by Burkett Arbor Care of Boerne, in holes dug by city of Boerne Parks Department employees along the trail that cuts through the park. Department workers were on hand to help put the trees in the ground and cover them with dirt and mulch.
“In the Hill Country, trees are very important to our community for many different reasons,” said Mayor Frank Ritchie, reading from a proclamation before grabbing a shovel and joining the Rotary Club members.
“It helps knowing that in the future, Boerne is going to have trees that are beautiful, provide shade and clean air and everything we need for our beautiful community,” he added.
Christina Bergmann, Kendall County Precinct 1 Commissioner and Boerne Noon Rotary Club secretary, thanked the city for allowing Parks Department workers to dig holes for the 15 trees, as well as for supplying the mulch and fencing used to secure and protect the trees.
Ritchie read a proclamation telling of the origin of Arbor Day in Nebraska in 1872, a movement resulting in the planting of millions of trees nationwide in the decades since.
Star photo by Jeff B. Flinn Boerne Mayor Frank Ritchie, right, joins Colt Burkett, of Burkett Arbor Care, Tuesday in shoveling dirt around the base of a cedar elm in Northside Neighborhood Park.
Trees, he said, can reduce erosion caused by wind and water, cut heating and cooling, moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce life-giving oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife.
“Trees in our city increase property values, provide shade, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community,” he said.
Trees are a renewable resource, giving us paper, food, fuel and countless other wood products, he said.
The mayor said the city intends to move forward with tree mitigation for future developments and anything that comes into the community.
Boerne has been named a Tree City USA city by the Arbor Day Foundation for the past 12 years, planting nearly 2,000 trees in that time.
“This is one of my favorite events that Rotary does,” Bergmann said. “I love the idea that we’re planting something, not just for my children, but my grandchildren and all those to follow, to come out and walk the trails and enjoy these beautiful trees.”
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