Walker class learns about ‘Arbour Week’

Students in Sharla MacKinnon’s Grade 5 class at J.W. Walker School here had the opportunity to learn about the significance of “Arbour Week” yesterday as Bill Mueller, Rick Huisman, and Mike Gurski of Hydro One visited the classroom.
Although Arbour Week in Ontario ran from April 25-May 4, the students celebrated the national event later due to a snow storm at the end of April.
“Arbour Day is celebrated at different times in different places because it’s about planting and we generally can’t plant trees here in April,” Huisman explained.
Arbour Day has been around for more than 130 years.
J. Sterling Morton of Detroit moved into the Nebraska Territory and due to the lack of trees there, and his love of nature, began planting trees, flowers, and shrubs.
On April 10, 1872, the first tree-planting holiday was held and it was called “Arbour Day.”
Now Arbour Day is observed in many countries around the world.
Huisman said the two main goals of Arbour Week are to educate people about trees and to encourage tree planting.
“Trees are important to the environment,” he stressed, noting they help prevent soil erosion and reduce noise pollution.
He explained trees also are important to wildlife because they provide a nesting area for birds, hollows for squirrels and other small animals, and are a source of food.
Huisman also said trees are important to us.
“They provide shade, windbreaks, building supplies, firewood, and food,” he remarked, adding trees also offer up beautiful places to hike and camp, and add value to our properties.
He briefly explained photosynthesis, noting we need oxygen from trees in order to survive.
Gurski, a journeyman, showed and described to the students some of the equipment Hydro One employees use to cut back trees from power lines.
Following the presentation, the class gathered outside by a tree Hydro One had purchased and donated to the students at J.W. Walker.
“We hope it will be a bit of a morale booster after the incident here not long ago,” he remarked, referring to the gas leak and subsequent explosion and fire which severely damaged the school’s gymnasium back in February.
The tree will be planted near the fence on the south side of the school.