COUNTYWIDE : Free Pine Trees Still Available to Schools
The great tree giveaway continues.
Though more than half of the 465 public schools in the county have taken advantage of free, five-foot-tall pine trees offered by the Tree Society of Orange County, about 200 Mondell Pines are still available.
In April, Pacific Mutual Foundation gave a $15,000 grant to the Tree Society to fund the giveaway.
The program was designed to coincide with last month’s Earth Day celebrations, Foundation President Robert Haskell said. Public schools were notified with a letter and tree planting kit and provided with a certificate good for a single pine tree.
The Tree Society recommended that the Mondell Pine be selected because it is particularly drought resistant, needs little maintenance and absorbs carbon dioxide at a relatively high rate, said Thomas Larsen, the president of the Tree Society, adding that many of the schools that have picked up the free trees have used the planting ceremonies as an opportunity to discuss the environmental benefits of trees.
“The teachers and principals have used it as a real teaching aid,” Larsen said. “The Tree Society wants it to be ongoing, and we wanted the kids to move away from Earth Day with all this in mind.”
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