Email
PrintTree Planting at Benicia High Brings Healing to a Community
Photos by Wolfram Alderson
On April 21, in celebration of Earth Day, the Benicia Tree Foundation held an event where Benicia’s young and young at heart came together to plant trees at Benicia High School. Wolfram Alderson, the foundation’s president, reports that the event was a huge success. I was sorry to have missed the event due to a prior commitment, but the planting of these trees was very important for our town. “We planted eighty trees with the support of over 50 volunteers that included the Mayor, Benicia Girl Scouts, the California Native Plant Society, the BHS Eco Club, Benicia Community Gardens, and others,” said Alderson.
In 2007, all of the trees that lined the school’s property along one section of Military West, and many on the hillside beneath the adjacent stadium were, overnight, cut down without notice to the community, the City, or the school board, of which I was a member. They were there one day and gone the next, and those of us who live nearby were stunned. The trees provided sound control for the many homes around the school, erosion control for the hillsides from which they were cut and shade for the heavily used sidewalk between BHS and Mary Farmar elementary.
While it’s true that some of the trees were unhealthy, no plan was made for their replacement, nor was funding available, back then or now, even if a plan had been submitted. The school board was displeased, to say the least, and there was a vocal and sustained public outcry at the wanton way in which the trees were removed. Consequently, leadership changes in district management were made by the Board, but the land, until a few days ago, lay bare for years.
With the replanting, the Tree Foundation has done far more for our town than the usual reasons of earth-friendliness and beautification. The project heals a community and a neighborhood, and brings full circle a moment in this writer’s political life. How wonderful to live in a place where residents value trees, and come together to support the foundations’ good works.
