STLCCM Arbor Day, Carrie Coyne with Horticulture students. Photos by Robert Weaver.
by Don Corrigan
April showers may bring May flowers, but April 2024 has brought an abundance of events honoring trees in the St. Louis area. Missouri is celebrating both a state and a national Arbor Day on the April calendar.
On the state-designated Arbor Day of April 5, a crowd at the Meramec campus of St. Louis Community College in Kirkwood enjoyed the addition of a new oak species to the campus oak collection.
The Missouri native swamp chestnut oak was the gift of Bill Ruppert, who is with the school’s Horticulture Program Advisory Committee. Horticultural student Abigail Andrews expressed appreciation for the tree addition.
“This ceremony today means so much to us, because trees are so important,” said Andrews, an Oakville resident. “To plant a tree is to do something for posterity.
“Trees are all about future generations,” added Andrews. “We don’t plant them just for us, but more for the coming generations who will enjoy them.”
Andrews’ sentiments were echoed in the formal part of the arbor program with words by Jerry Pence, coordinator of the campus horticulture program and Joe Enger, lead horticulturalist at Meramec.
“Community colleges are more important than ever in providing skills and knowledge for students,” said Pence. “To learn, students need to feel safe and comfortable and trees provide comfort and a feeling of safety.”
In his ode to trees, Enger noted that trees sometime have to be removed from the campus for new facilities and that causes “a pang.” The pang needs to be alleviated by following up with a replacement tree planting.
Pictured: Meramec President Feliccia Moore- Davis
In her comments, Meramec President Feleccia Moore-Davis cited the Arbor Day Tree Planting Proclamation. The 10-point declaration emphasized the importance of “Tree Campus Higher Education” and the Garden Classroom at Meramec.
Tree Campus Higher Education was established in 2008 to foster campus programs that make trees and green space an integral part of the college experience for all students. A tree campus designation was established by the National Arbor Day Foundation.
In 2023, the foundation officially declared Meramec in Kirkwood as a school that recognizes trees as making campuses more livable, healthy and beautiful, and that benefit the environment and students.
Meramec President Moore-Davis praised the Garden Classroom on the southwest part of the campus for furthering the educational mission of the school’s horticultural program.
She said the Garden Classroom has proven itself as an educational resource that beautifies Kirkwood and that provides invaluable environmental educational benefits for community college students.
“As president of St. Louis Community College Meramec Campus, I hereby designate April 5 as Meramec Arbor Day and extend an invitation to all present here to contribute a shovel full of soil to complete the planting of this swamp chestnut oak,” Moore-Davis declared.
Among those present for the tree planting were Liz Gibbons, mayor-elect of Kirkwood; Mike Hankins, Kirkwood Urban Forestry Commission; and Lesli Moylan, Missouri Environmental Education Association.
Others in attendance included Jeff Pittman, community college chancellor; Mark Grueber, community forester with the Missouri Department of Conservation; and Josh Carron of the Missouri Community Forestry Council.
Environmental Echo 