Trees, Trees, Trees: Arbor Day, 2017 in Bedford

By Julie McCay Turner

Joyce Kilmer’s words, written in 1913, are both familiar and relevant to Arbor Day in Bedford.

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

With three events spanning the entire day, Bedford celebrated Arbor Day 2017 with panache.

On Arbor Day morning, the Bedford DPW, ably assisted by Bedford Arbor Resources Committee member Melinda Dietrich, installed a Princeton Elm along Mudge Way to replace a damaged tree.

Kate Faulkner, the Bedford Garden Club’s Arbor Day chair, visited each of the first-grade classrooms at Davis School to deliver Kousa dogwoods – Image (c) JMcCT, 2017 all rights reserved – Click to view larger image

Later in the day, the Bedford Garden Club distributed hundreds of very young Kousa dogwood trees for first-grade students to plant at home as gifts from the Club.

Kate Faulkner, the Garden Club’s Arbor Day chair, noted that she hopes to see many of the dogwoods grow to maturity, one day creating a blizzard of blossoms around Bedford. The club also donated multiple trees to the school, and later in the day students planted them around the Davis School campus.

(front l-r) John Zupkus, speaker Ron McAdow, BARC chair Jacqueline Edwards, with BARC members Melinda Dietrich and Ruth Robinson. (rear l-r) DPW Grounds Manager Dennis Freeman and BARC member Ken Prescott – Image (c) JMcCT, 2017 all rights reserved

The Selectmen’s Meeting Room was packed with Bedford’s environmentalists attending the Arbor Resources Committee’s annual Arbor Day program and reception. McAdow describes the natural and man-made forces that alter the New England forest habitat and determine which wildlife species can prosper. More young trees, hardwoods and firs alike, were distributed to the members of the audience after the program.

More young trees, hardwoods and firs alike, were distributed among members of the audience after the program.