Countywide : Each Public School Will Plant Pine Tree
In honor of Earth Day, all 465 public schools in Orange County will be planting pine trees purchased with a grant from a private foundation.
Students will plant Mondell pine trees, which are drought-tolerant, hardy and grow quickly, according to the Tree Society of Orange County, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Fullerton Arboretum.
The Mondell trees also have more leaf mass than other evergreen trees, allowing them to store more carbon and purify air more efficiently, said Thomas Larson, the society’s president. School officials were to pick up the trees this week at several nurseries in Orange County. One tree will be provided to every elementary, junior high and high school.
The trees will be about five feet tall when planted but can grow to a height of 40 feet and a width of 20 feet, Larson said.
The Tree Society bought the trees with a $15,000 grant from the Pacific Mutual Foundation, a subsidiary of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co.
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