Volunteers prepare trees and shrubs for Arbor Day sale

Soil and Water Conservation District workers observed Earth Day on Wednesday by preparing more than 1,000 tree and shrub orders for distribution.

Seedlings and transplants will be distributed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Saratoga County Fairgrounds.

More than 1,000 people have pre-ordered bare root plants. There will also be a variety of evergreen and deciduous bare root trees, shrubs and ground covers available for purchase at low cost on a first come, first served basis.

The species available are well suited for conservation purposes, and provide food and cover for songbirds and other wildlife.

This week is National Volunteer Week and the district relies heavily on such people to accomplish its missions and goals. All board members are volunteers — Ray Bowman, Don Monica, Tom Wood, Richard Hunter, Victoria Garlanda, Jay Matthews and Phil Griffen. These and other people helped prepare the tree and shrub orders for this weekend’s distribution.

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The Painting is by Henry Hillier Parker

Tree planting caps governor's busy Earth Day

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger marked Earth Day on Wednesday in part by helping one local company reach its goal of planting 1 million trees.

Schwarzenegger, in one of three Earth Day appearances statewide, helped plant the 1 millionth tree at Shaklee. He was joined by company officials and Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement and winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Maathai is the "global ambassador" for the company's "A Million Trees, A Million Dreams" campaign. Her group, based in Kenya, started in 1977 with tree plantings and is a way to empower women by getting them involved with the environment.

Shaklee makes items such as vitamins, household cleaners and personal hygiene products. The company said that in 2000 it was the first company in the world to be certified as being "climate neutral" by the Climate Neutral Network, with the tree plantings being counted toward that effort.

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The Painting is by Henry Hillier Parker

Efforts aimed at boosting tree cover

As Earth Day and Arbor Day arrive today and Friday, local planning officials are preparing to offer county residents incentives to help restore the area's declining tree cover.

A new program, called Leaves for Neighborhoods, will make $25 coupons available to purchase a shade tree valued at $75 or more from a participating nursery.

Planners say the county has been losing tree cover to infill and denser development for decades, as trees were cut to make room for houses. Also, development has interfered with the root systems of trees and likely caused many to die early, they say.

Meanwhile, the County Council and the Department of Environmental Protection are working toward a tree preservation ordinance and looking at zoning changes that could stem or reverse the pattern of tree losses in residential areas.

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The Painting is by Ivan Shishkin

From President Obama to NASA, Americans Are Planting Earth Day Trees

To mark Earth Day, the top politicians in the US this afternoon rolled up their sleeves and took up their shovels to plant trees at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens along the Washington, DC border with Maryland.

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden planted trees with the Student Conservation Association in a muddy marsh beside the Anacostia River at Kenilworth.

The dignitaries walked up to the planting site with arms around the student workers, who were all wearing T-shirts that said "SCA – Earth Day 09."

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The Painting is by Ivan Shishkin