Arbor Day/week Started May 2!
 | Author:
Patrick Plantenberg, Tree Board Chair
Townsend Tree Board Chair, Townsend Rotary Club |
Arbor Day/week Started May 2!
Patrick Plantenberg
Tree Board Chair
The Townsend Tree Board started its annual Arbor Day/Week Celebration on May 2 at Townsend Elementary School. The fifth-grade students and teachers helped the Tree Board plant a unique tree- a Phellodendron lavallei ‘Longenecker’ Eye Stopper™ Cork Tree! This is only the second one ever planted in Townsend. It has a brilliant yellow fall color. The tree was planted south of the Community Library. The tree was planted to honor the 2024 Arbor Day Poster Contest Winners.
At the tree planting ceremony, Sheri Steckler, MT Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Urban Service Forester for eastern Montana, congratulated City of Townsend Mayor Vicki Rauser for Townsend being awarded Tree City USA status for 2023. Townsend qualified for Tree City USA status and has received an $850 grant to help pay for our Arbor Day/Week activities. Townsend has had a Tree Board since 1990 but has only qualified to be a Tree City USA 24 years out of the 34 years of its existence.
Linda Southall, Townsend Tree Board member, was also honored by Sheri Steckler for being a Tree Board member for 31 years and for conducting the Arbor Day poster contest for 20 years! Interestingly, the first tree planted for Arbor Day poster contest winner Rachel Cordova in 2004, a Prairie Gem Flowering Pear tree, was less than 70 feet from the 2024 tree. A tree planted in 2008 on Arbor Day during the state Arbor Day celebration hosted in Townsend and named by the students ‘Linda the Linden’ was less than 200 feet away from the 2024 tree.
Finally, Graymont Plant Manager, Paul Liner, and Steve Bugni, Graymont HSE Specialist, were at the Arbor Day celebration to be honored by the Tree Board for presenting the Townsend Tree Board with a $7,500
Graymont Carbon Reduction Fund Grant to help pay for our 2024 trees. Thank you, Graymont!
During the rest of the coming Arbor Week, the Tree Board will be planting more trees around the community.
Article Images
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Pat Plantenberg - only use as many as you actually have room for.
Image 1 Caption: Graymont employees, Paul Liner (left) and Steve Bugni (right), explain to the 5th grade students why Graymont gave the Tree Board a tree planting grant in 2024.
Photo Credits: Pat Plantenberg
Image 2 Caption: Sheri Steckler, MT DNRC Urban Service Forester, congratulates Townsend Mayor Vicki Rauser, on Townsend being approved as a Tree City USA in 2023.
Photo Credits: Pat Plantenberg
Image 3 Caption: Sheri Steckler, MT DNRC Urban Service Forester, thanks Linda Southall for being a Tree Board member for 31 years and organizing the Arbor Day poster contest for 20 years.
Photo Credits: Pat Plantenberg
Image 4 Caption: Patrick Plantenberg, (left in white hat) helps students plant a new tree south of the community library on Arbor Day.
Photo Credits: Pat Plantenberg
