PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Springside Park gained a red oak tree on Friday as the community celebrated Arbor Day.

 

Over the next 20 years, it will absorb about 900 pounds of carbon dioxide and release upwards of 260 pounds of oxygen a year.

 

The tree was donated by the Conway School of Landscape Design in Northampton in honor of its 50th anniversary and replaces one that fell down during a windstorm last about a year ago.

 

"This new red oak is our replacement oak and will forever be that tree planted during Arbor Day 2023 here at Springside," Park, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath said.

 

The event began with a ceremony and was followed by a ceremonial tree planting, an overview of the Chestnut Seed Orchard project in the park, a hike led by the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, and a tree walk led by the Berkshire Environmental Action Team.

 

"When I look out I see the best of Pittsfield," McGrath said. 

 

"I see my colleagues from park maintenance who give it their all every day to keep our parks safe and open, I see countless volunteers who give their time and talents to beautify our parks, I see members of our city government who care enough to serve so that we have wonderful community spaces like Springside, and I see you. You care about Pittsfield in so many different ways and you do your part every day to strengthen this community, our natural environment, and this park."

 

He has been involved with the ceremony since 1999 and believes it to be the sixth time being held at Springside Park.

 

McGrath said the Friday event was different because he feels like the park has come full circle.

 

"In 2003, it was right here where the city unveiled its Adopt a Park program. In 2005, we held the ceremony at the future site of the boundless playground on Springside Avenue and that is the first and still the only fully accessible all-access playground in Berkshire County," he explained.

 

"In 2006, we held a ceremony almost in this exact same spot to highlight the recent listing of the Springside House on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2007, we honored the many volunteer groups that contribute to keeping Springside a magical place and in 2016, we celebrated the initial plantings at the Chestnut Seed Orchard, which is just a stone's throw from here. So full circle, you say."

 

The Conway School, first established in the town of Conway, is an intensive graduate program of 18 students that teaches and practices land design that is ecologically and socially sustainable.

 

Both McGrath and his wife graduated from the school in the late 1990s.

 

Executive Director Bruce Stedman reported that the school has graduated about 800 students since it was founded in 1973 and has done about 600 community projects. This includes a 2016 project titled "A Vision for Pittsfield's Conservation Areas: Linking Landscape & Community."

 

He pointed out that the U.S. Champion Red Oak in Ashtabula, Ohio, is 337 inches in diameter and is 92 feet tall.

 

"That tree is emblematic of all of our efforts to work forward, to pay forward, to volunteer forward," Stedman said.

 

Martha Lyon, the owner of an eponymous Northampton landscape architecture firm, spoke about the historical context of trees, Arbor Day and Springside Park. She shared a personal tale about a 2007 microburst that swept through her neighborhood and took down a 75-year-old white pine that damaged her house.

 

She said this event presented her with a dilemma

 

"On the one hand, I and we revere the graceful beauty of trees, the coolness of their shade, their generosity towards birds, allowing them to nest rent-free, their ability to absorb carbon and hand us back oxygen without complaint," Lyon said, adding that on the other hand, people fear the destruction that trees can cause, disparage the leaves that fall, and dislike that they block the sun from solar panels.

 

To her, this illustrates the need to find better ways to live in harmony with "towering friends."

 

Lyon said this be accomplished by putting utility lines underground, prioritizing tree care, and planting a new tree for every tree removed to accommodate solar panels.

 

"My conclusion is that we need trees much more than they need us," she explained. "And moving ahead we need to carry that with us and pay our respects."

 

Two local parks volunteers who had recently died were recognized during the event: Pittsfield resident Robert Presutti, and Lanesborough resident Dean Maynard.

 

McGrath joked that if Presutti was at the Arbor Day planting, he would have jumped right in and guided the process.

 

"But that was what Bob did," he said. "Bob was an educator and he was always sharing his knowledge with anyone who was up here. He was often running tree pruning workshops. He was a really a magnificent volunteer, a great human, and he'll be missed."

 

Maynard was a 1983 graduate of Conway School and a past president of Springside's Herbert Arboretum and had a successful career in landscaping.