COUNTYWIDE : Trees to Take Root During Arbor Week

Move over, Johnny Appleseed. Schools throughout the county are preparing to plant trees--thousands of them--from pine seedlings to 15-foot mulberries, in celebration of Arbor Week, Thursday to March 14.

The Orange, Irvine, Newport-Mesa, Tustin and Laguna Beach unified school districts have received grants of up to $11,000 each from the Irvine Co., the Newport Beach-based developer, to purchase the trees. Each of the five school districts fall within the borders of land owned by the company.

The Irvine Co. presented its first Arbor Week grants “in recognition of the important role schools play in educating our children about environmental issues,” said Carol Hoffman, the company’s vice president of community relations.

The largest grant, $11,000 to the Orange Unified School District, will buy 16,000 magnolia, camphor and elm trees, which are expected to be brought to the district’s maintenance yard Tuesday. The planting of a 12-foot Valencia orange tree at district headquarters Thursday will launch Arbor Day and a week of celebration.

“We think this is the largest tree planting ever undertaken in the county,” said district spokeswoman Gayle Wayne. “It’s one of the most rewarding projects I’ve ever undertaken--and one of the most panic-laden. I think I contacted every wholesale grower in Southern California before I found one who could sell me 16,000 trees.”

Each child in Orange Unified’s 26 elementary schools will receive a 12-inch potted tree to take home. Each of the district’s 10 secondary schools will plant a full-size holly oak on campus.

The district has also purchased books and educational videotapes relating to the environment as part of the “Tree Week” grant program.

The Irvine Unified School District will use its $9,500 grant to plant one mulberry tree at each of its 20 elementary schools.

With a $4,500 grant, Tustin Unified schools will purchase more than 50 trees to be planted on the district’s high school campuses. The trees will be selected, planted and maintained by the district’s horticulture program.

A $1,500 grant will buy a large tree for each of the three kindergarten through eighth-grade schools in the Laguna Beach Unified School District.

In Newport-Mesa, $7,500 in trees will be planted at seven elementary schools, two intermediate schools and the district’s Alternative Education Center.