Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

There are 1,000 more trees growing in Polk County than there were two weeks ago, thanks to Unity in the Community’s Arbor Day Challenge and lots of ground-breaking labor by all the partners.
As this community draws together to nurture our neighbors, we are also nurturing this beautiful place. So many of us feel that this is the best place to live anytime, crisis or not, so it is significant that we have met our challenge.

Chris Maser, author of Forest Primeval: The Natural History of an Ancient Forest, wrote, “What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.” This week, this community has demonstrated that we are doing what’s right in multiple ways.
Fifth grade students created beautiful posters, which you will see hanging around the county when we are out and about again. Their words ask us to “Save the Trees” and “Plant Trees” for many reasons: the production of oxygen, the shade, the animals, the materials, the foods and the fun times made possible by trees. Not to mention the toilet paper toilet paper uses 27,000 trees per day! It’s good that our children are recognizing the value of trees and learning to plant and save them.
And one more piece of wisdom: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” Chinese proverb

Submitted by Andrea Walter