BCSIS Shade Committee
We Have Living Shade!
A huge thank you to everyone who helped plant trees last Friday! We have more than doubled the tree canopy on the Southwest areas of our campus with 14 new Lindens, Catalpas, Big Tooth Maples, Sensation Boxelders, Hackberry, Suckerpunch Choke Cherry, and Kentucky Coffee Tree, and Bur Oak. In addition to our wonderful school community, a number of local organizations were instrumental in making this happen. PLAY Boulder Foundation’s Tree Trust purchased the trees for us (a gift of over $5,000) and also helped coordinate all logistics for planting day, including landscape design drawings by Halley Douglas (thanks, Halley!). Cool Boulder & the City of Boulder’s Nature-Based Climate Initiatives Team helped us plant and are helping us to map and bring data to aspects of this like extreme heat mitigation, tree canopy coverage and carbon sequestration,, and eventually biodiversity at our site. Eco-Cycle brought Eco-Leader volunteers and their famous compost tee to give the roots a boost. Classrooms for Climate Action—a group of retired educators—will be working with at least two of our classrooms next year on an expanded climate education curriculum. Taddiken tree care dropped off a mountain of excellent mulch to keep our trees’ roots safe and moist, and critically, two Certified Arborists—Josh Morin & David Schaldach—from We Love Trees were on site with us last Friday making sure trees were planted perfectly and even doing some trimming of our existing trees. If you need any tree care at home, please give Josh & David a call!
It was pretty awesome hearing the comments of the kids throughout today and one in particular who remarked “This is magic!” We’re creating lasting beauty and life-giving shade and habitat for our school community AND the more-than-human world. AND it was so fun getting to know each other better! Can’t wait for the upcoming planting parties. (More green goodness to come)!
In the spirit of arts integration, please enjoy this reminder of our close connection with trees by Mary Oliver. May our kids know her wise words “You too \ have come into the world to do this \ to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine”.
Thank you Tree Planting Partners!!
How Will We Care for the Trees & What’s Next?
We are not done yet, and we need your help! Planting trees is fun, but young trees need a lot of care to thrive and provide maximum shade. Unfortunately, we have two 4 dead or mostly-dead trees on campus that need to be replaced, and are a testament to what happens when trees don’t receive enough water, have healthy environments for root growth, and receive proper pruning to avoid storm-damage and encourage shade-providing branch growth. We’re working on a year-round maintenance and care plan — as well as ways for students to be involved in tree observation and care throughout the seasons!
We’re also designing a new & improved Peace Garden for the front of the school. A rainbow of native-pollinator supporting blossoms will soon greet you as you arrive at school, with a “Three Sisters Bed” and two culinary/perennial herb beds to enhance our Garden Table Curriculum. We also have a chance to plant more trees this coming September!
All of this will require our hands in the soil (and on the watering hose). If you’d like to learn about native pollinator gardening, vegetable gardening, or just like being outside and seeing flowers, please join our habitat team! Be in touch with Emily KenCairn (emily@refugia.institute) or Lindsay Grote (lindsaygrote@gmail.com) if you’re interested in being involved in our outdoor spaces. We’re working on some kind of email group to stay connected with everyone who’s interested. Please join us!
