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Pitt Meadows families plant trees for Earth Day

Popular city event sees beautification of Bonson Park
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Pitt Meadows parks employee Curtis Gervais joins family members Ethan Andrews, his aunt Shihana Wewala and grandmother Daughty Preena in planting a white spruce in Bonson Park. (Neil Corbett/The News)

The City of Pitt Meadows marked Earth Day with a tree planting event in Bonson Park on Wednesday and Thursday.

Families and school children volunteered their time to help dig the holes and plant 25 different trees.

Olivia Huppee of the city parks department said the trees are an array of colours, and were picked to be pollinator friendly.

Caleb Unger, 11, and his mother Elaine were planting a fiery oak tree that was about 12 feet tall, and will be appreciated by traffic from Bonson Road.

“In the fall you’ll see really bright red leaves. It’s going to be gorgeous,” said Huppee.

“It’s nice to get out and do something for the earth,” said Elaine.

Her son is home schooled, and they studied plants as part of the curriculum, so it was also an education experience.

Daughty Preena was planting a white spruce with her sister Shihana Wewala and her grandson Ethan Andrews. All three volunteers were doing the spade work, and Preena hopes someday in the future Andrews will visit the tree and think of his grandmother.

“It’s something for the community, and our kids and grandkids will see this tree after we’re gone.”

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“It’s nice to do this with my family,” echoed Andrews. “And it’s a perfect day for it.”

Wewala added it was a perfect Earth Day event, and she hopes the city will consider more plantings on future Earth Days – in industrial areas, along the dikes where trees have been removed, and in other places that need it.

Huppee was impressed with the community response. The first family of the day planted a Douglas Fir, and made a plan to return every year for a family photo in front of it, as the tree and their family matures.

She said the south end of Bonson Park will be beautiful in years to come. There will be 12 cherry trees planted along a path on the park’s eastern side.

“They’ll be growing over the pathway, and you’ll be engulfed in blossoms,” she envisioned.

Huppee said the north end of the park, which is a popular bowl for tobogganing with every snowfall, was left out of the planting.


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Caleb Unger, 11, and his mother Elaine volunteered for the Earth Day tree planting event in Bonson Park, and planted a fiery oak. (Neil Corbett/The News)


Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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