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4-H kids celebrate 40th anniversary of Alaska Arbor Day

Shady Grove Oliver

  The local 4-H group in Homer came together at Karen Hornaday Park on Monday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Arbor Day in Alaska by planting a tree.

A handful of older kids braved the grey skies and drizzle to dig a hole near the ball field in the park.

“It’s super rocky and it’s mostly clay, so, I think we’re going to have to pour a bag of soil to help the tree," described Elias Allen, 11, who was working the ground with a shovel, making space for the large paper birch that was about to be planted there. “We heard about planting a tree so we wanted to come check it out and I’m happy to help dig it out.”

Eric Pederson, principal of Paul Banks Elementary School, also came out to help as his wife, Sherry, is the 4-H group leader.

“My wife told me, ‘Hey, I need you to go out to Dutch Boy and get a tree,’ and I was expecting something a little bit smaller," he laughed. "It’s about 15 feet tall, so it’s a little larger than I expected, but we’re here, we’re going to dig a little bit deeper hole to put it in, but it’s good. We’re ready to go.”

Sherry organized the Arbor Day event, which she hopes will help the kids learn about both trees and community service.

“I think it’s important for them to understand how the trees give us oxygen and add beauty to the landscape," she said. “I know a lot of people come to use the park so I’m hoping the kids feel a sense of ownership when they come and see the tree and knowing they did something to celebrate Arbor Day and how community service is such a huge part, I hope it sticks with them for the rest of their lives.”

While the older kids were digging the hole for the tree, a handful of younger ones are under the picnic shelter, getting rocks prepped for painting.

“So, we have some white butcher paper and then we have some large rocks on top of the butcher paper," said Sherry. "We want each kid to do a painting on a rock and that way each kid can participate in the tree planting and they’re going to place their rock by the tree.”

Once the kids finished splattering their stones with bright oranges and reds, blues and greens, they arranged them around the trunk of the birch.

As for Elias, he said he was glad he came out to help and hoped the community would notice the new birch when they visit the park.

“I think they’ll think about some of the people in Homer actually respecting trees and if they cut one down they’ll replant them," he said.

Shady Grove Oliver is the former KBBI News Director and currently works as a freelance reporter around the state.