Countywide : Youngsters Warm Up to Arbor Day

Schoolchildren throughout Orange County on Wednesday joined in celebrating Arbor Day by planting trees, as people have done for the last 108 years.

But in these days of environmental awareness, Arbor Day is changing from a cute ritual to a day on which people are encouraged to take better care of the planet.

“Arbor Day isn’t traditionally a big deal,” said Linda Nash, a park ranger for the county Environmental Management Agency, “but now planting trees is the one thing that is often mentioned that people can do to feel like they’re making a difference.”

Students from two third-grade classes at Melbourne A. Gauer Elementary School in Anaheim helped shovel dirt into a hole where a freshly planted magnolia stood about 6 feet tall.

After the ceremony, the students talked about the difference they were making by planting a tree in their urban setting.

“Trees are important because of all the good things they give us--homes, fruit and leaves to burn on Halloween,” said third-grader Heather Bobzein.

Adding to that list, the California Assn. of Nurserymen says that trees reduce city noise, cut heat and glare from concrete sidewalks, calm nerves and reduce air-conditioning costs when strategically planted near buildings.

Nearly every city in the county was planting a tree or holding another activity in honor of California Arbor Day. On Wednesday, Woodsy the Owl and Smokey the Bear passed out seedlings and balloons in Dana Point.

Last Saturday, Fullerton Boy and Girl Scout troops planted about 600 saplings at a park, and this Saturday, an environmental fair will be held at Mason Regional Park in Irvine. The fair will include classes on conservation, recycling and tree planting.

In Laguna Niguel, about 150 first-graders at the city’s newest school, Marian Bergeson Elementary School, helped plant a white mulberry tree Wednesday. The children left with seedlings to plant at home.

“I think this is a very special thing to have happen,” said Annette Gude, president of the Capistrano Unified School District School board. “What we’re trying to do with our little children is to get them to appreciate their surroundings and not destroy them. . . . When you chop down trees you need to replace them.”