NEWPORT BEACH, COSTA MESA : Third-Graders Get Arbor Day Trees
The Rotary Club of Newport-Balboa has distributed 1,800 seedling trees to third-graders in 28 public and private schools and special educational programs in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.
This is the 22nd year in which the club has delivered trees to celebrate Arbor Day, according to Donal C. Noonan, Arbor Day committee chairman. National Arbor Day falls on April 27, while California Arbor Day was earlier this month.
“We chose third-graders because they have reached the age of reason, if you will,” said Noonan. “They are old enough to adopt a tree and nurture it. As they would grow, so would the tree.”
Each year, the Rotary Club chooses a different species and purchases the trees from an Irvine nursery. This year’s selection was the star pine, a native of Norfolk Island in the South Pacific.
“We explain to the children that we are living on a coastal desert plain,” said Noonan. “There are no trees here that weren’t planted by man or a third-grader.”
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