To mark Arbor Day this month, a tree will be planted the day before, April 28, at Milton H. Allen Elementary School, with the Pinelands Garden Club, Medford Township, Medford Leas and the Medford schools celebrating environmental awareness.
The event is organized by garden club member Carol Milich, in conjunction with zoning official and Open Space Coordinator Beth Potocalis. Medford has been known as a Tree City U.S.A town for more than 40 years.
The national program provides communities with a four-step framework to become a Tree City town. It has four components: maintaining a tree board or department, having a community tree ordinance, spending at least $2 per capita on urban forestry and celebrating Arbor Day. With the designation, communities can show they are committed to the mission of environmental change.
The garden club has celebrated Arbor Day for many years, planting trees at Medford schools, each of which the club visits every six years. The holiday that celebrates planting, upkeep and the preservation of trees will be observed with wrapped tree seedlings from the garden club distributed to all fourth graders in Medford and given out free to residents on April 30 at Freedom Park.
The garden club is a nonprofit that is part of the Central Atlantic Region of the National Garden Clubs Inc. and supports the Woodford Cedar Run Refuge in Medford and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.
The tree for this year’s celebration at Allen elementary school is a donation from Medford Leas that will arrive a day or two before the planting event. The senior independent- living community is also classified as an Arboretum, a place where trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes.
“This year, they’re donating a Robin Hill serviceberry, which is a multi-stemmed tree which will fit very nicely in the small space that we have at Allen school.” Milich said
The tree planting begins at 2:30 p.m.; rain date is April 29. For more information, visit pinelandsgardenclub.org
