Pinedale Roundup

By: By Cali O'Hare, managing editor, [email protected]

Updated: 1 week ago / Posted May 26, 2023

PINEDALE — Pinedale Elementary School students celebrated Arbor Day on May 25 by planting four large, blooming Canada red chokecherry trees at Split Diamond Park alongside representatives from the Town of Pinedale, Sublette County Conservation District and Wyoming State Forestry Division. The trees, with bright green leaves and fragrant white flowers this time of year, will turn burnt red in the fall.

Councilman Scott Kosiba, filling in for Pinedale Mayor Matt Murdock, read aloud an Arbor Day proclamation emphasizing the value that trees bring to the community, such as reducing erosion, moderating the temperature, cleaning the air, producing life-giving oxygen, beautifying the area, offering shade and providing important wildlife habitat while producing wood for building and burning and paper products.

Nate Wilson, assistant district forester from the Wyoming State Forestry Division District No. 4, also spoke to students about the vital role trees play for all life on Earth just prior to the students began planting.

The town's Parks and Recreation Department selects a different park each year in which to plant trees for the annual Arbor Day celebration. Staff pre-dug the holes in Split Diamond Park off Kathryn Hill Drive. With five shovels surrounding each new tree, students took turns filling the holes and stomping down the dirt.

Sublette County Conservation District administrative coordinator Tracy Berg brought Siberian pea shrub starts for the 81 Pinedale students with an additional 26 set aside for kids in Big Piney, eight for La Barge and two for Bondurant.

Thursday's Arbor Day Celebration also marked 31 years that the Town of Pinedale has participated in the Tree City USA program.