Beach Haven School students celebrate Arbor Day by planting trees along Barnegat Bay

In celebration of Arbor Day, on Wednesday, April 27, Beach Haven School’s fifth-grade students, accompanied by their teacher, Deb Harkness, planted 12 new trees on Taylor Avenue near the bay. Mike Blahut of Hut Landscaping instructed the students on how to plant the trees and supervised their efforts.

Photo by Lin Van Name
The fifth-graders get their hands in the dirt.

“It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to assist the fifth-graders in planting new trees in honor of Arbor Day,” said Blahut. “The fifth-graders did a wonderful job, and they quickly understood the process of planting a tree and worked very well together.”

The children planted six Robusto junipers and six Hollywood junipers.

“These trees were selected because of their tolerance to drought, wind, cold and salt, a perfect combination of features for successful planting along our bay front,” said volunteer Lin Van Name.

Arbor Day has been celebrated since 1872, when Nebraska resident J. Sterling Morton approached the state Board of Agriculture about setting aside one day a year to plant trees. More than a million trees were planted in Nebraska during the inaugural event.

“Unlike a lot of holidays that celebrate a historical event, Arbor Day is really a celebration of the future,” said Van Name. “The trees planted on Arbor Day are to be enjoyed by generations to come.”

Last year, Beach Haven School students attended a special dedication for the native garden on Taylor Avenue, where they painted rocks with the names of the various plants found in the plot. It was created and built by Beach Haven resident Robert Jacobsen in connection with Rutgers University’s Environmental Stewardship Program.

Borough council members also placed two benches in the garden at last year’s dedication. One was dedicated to Jacobsen and the other was dedicated to George Gilbert, superintendent of public works, and his department members.

Two more planting areas have been added, and picnic tables and educational signs about the bay should be in place by summer, Van Name noted.

“The whole area has been quite an eyesore, especially since Superstorm Sandy. But now we have a concrete walkway along the bay, lots of benches and some greenery,” she said. “We so appreciate the county helping us with obtaining soil and mulch, and the Beach Haven elementary students have been helpful with most of the plantings at the garden.”

The trees the students planted on Arbor Day are not native to the area, so they were planted outside the native garden.

“The hope is they will grow and not only provide greenery, but a nice windscreen for the playground and basketball court from those cold west winds in the fall, winter and spring,” said Van Name.

— Kelley Anne Essinger

This article was published in The SandPaper.