Trees On Campus
Trees on Campus is a new program OLWC is supporting in response to community action around the Climate Crisis. As we have talked with teachers and students throughout our community, we have seen a need for locally organized Climate Action. We want to empower community members to take action to help mitigate the effects of increasing CO2 in our atmosphere, and become more locally resilient to the impacts of the climate crisis. The Lake Oswego High School Green Team has identified planting and protecting trees as their top priority. The students, with support from OLWC, organized an ivy pull on campus and plan on making this a monthly event. The students are also interested in inventorying trees and deciding where more trees can be planted at their school.
On November 2, 2019 OLWC and the Lake Oswego High School Green Team came together for our first event! We focused on removing ivy from trees and clearing ground ivy around the trees. Established ivy on a tree can get very heavy, and can eventually topple an otherwise healthy tree. Together, 18 students and 7 adults worked to save 22 trees, clear 600 square feet of ground ivy, and pick up 60 pounds of trash. We had loads of fun, and began to strengthen our partnership with the green team and the high school! A huge thank you to Clackamas SWCD for funding community outreach and education efforts like these! Moving forward, we are making Trees on Campus a more formal program.
OLWC is presenting two Trees on Campus sessions at the LOSD Professional Development conference on Nov. 25. We will be working with interested teachers to support classroom activities that map and inventory trees on their school grounds, calculate the amount of carbon dioxide sequestered by these trees, and identify where additional trees can be planted. Every student will have the opportunity learn about the benefits of the trees on their school campus and in their community. Protecting and planting trees is a Climate Action everyone can take. As we grow this program, we are looking to fill gaps in funding so we can reach more classrooms. Please consider making a donation so we can continue to empower students to take Climate Action!