Tree Planting

It's a beautiful and sunny 70-degree day here in Burlington, and today I helped plant trees along a riparian buffer zone in Williston. The tree planting was for a one-credit river restoration course that I am taking, but other Rubenstein students joined us as well and we worked with a woman from the Friends of the Winooski River organization. We spent the morning planting trees along one side of Allen Brook, and we staked burlap mats around each tree to help protect the trees a little bit from the thick growth of goldenrod. We stopped for a lunch break, and then moved to the other side of the brook. We were planting dogwood, elm, and cottonwood trees, among others. I really enjoyed being outside getting my hands dirty, and it made me excited for the River Ecology course I will be taking this coming fall in Idaho.

Here's a web page about the stream buffer restoration in the town of Williston:
http://www.town.williston.vt.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={680175A4-7E7B-4D06-99FD-7073C999FDE1}&DE={51A92870-1B1F-4C62-A930-8D8EB1D5677B}

The stream buffer restoration effort, spearheaded by the Town of Williston. Photo is from the Williston, Vermont website: http://www.town.williston.vt.us/vertical/Sites/%7BF506B13C-605B-4878-8062-87E5927E49F0%7D/uploads/Picture_085(1).jpg