Dalton Student to Plant Trees in Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A prospective marine biology student will plant 20 trees in the city as part of a school project.
Wahconah Regional High School junior Brodie Kelly-Smith is doing a research project on recent fires across the state. To complete the project, Kelly-Smith had to take the initiative to address the issues and he chose Pittsfield as a recipient.
Planting trees can act as natural fire breaks and increase humidity while providing a habitat for wildlife. Berkshire County is no stranger to wildfires, as a November's Butternut Fire in Great Barrington expanded to consume 1,670 acres.
"I decided that I want to do more than just write a letter to somebody and I want to actually do it myself," he told the Conservation Commission last week.
"So that's kind of why I'm doing this and I've always been interested in the environment. I want to go to college for marine biology."
Initially, he was going to plant all of the trees in one spot but Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resource Manager James McGrath informed him that people wanted trees planted on their property.
"I've been in contact with [Conservation Agent Robert Van Der Kar] and Mr. McGrath for a couple of months now and they've been willing to help me with this project," Kelly-Smith explained.
"And I'm kind of just looking for the green light for it."
McGrath commended Kelly-Smith's initiative, as "he didn't just want to write a letter. He wanted to put some action behind that." Originally, they planned to look at one of the Conservation Commission's holdings for a tree plan.
"And with some support from the Parks Department, I trust we could provide some of the heavy lifts that might be needed," he explained, adding that Kelly-Smith has onboarded friends to assist in the effort.
McGrath said if the commission is agreeable to the project, the city will help but the heavy lifting is on Kelly-Smith. The project also aligns with city efforts.
"So we'll sort that all out and we'll make certain that the trees that get planted are native varieties or the right trees for the right spots," he said.
"At the front end of his comments, he did make a comment about planting trees in a neighborhood. So we've recently received a request for some trees in a neighborhood and we think we might be able to leverage the work that (Kelly-Smith) is going to bring to the city to maybe plant some trees in a neighborhood on Chris Ave over off of Holmes Road."
The student plans to have the trees planted before summer.
"Spring is the perfect time to be doing this project so we want to work with you swiftly on this. So let's stay in touch. We'll work on a planting plan. We'll help you get this thing sourced. We'll talk about that neighborhood planting," McGrath said.
"And I think what we'll do for hopefully, for the next Conservation Commission meeting, bring a little plan forward and say, 'Here's what's going to actually happen,' and Brodie will be the one to put all that together."
Commission members applauded the student's efforts and weighed in on where the saplings could be sourced. He was reminded to space the trees wide enough so they could be around for hundreds of years and keep them away from the edge of property lines.
"I want to first commend and thank you for coming forward. It's not very often we see anyone at your youthful age come up in here in front of us and promote something that we all love to do here. So that's all great," Chair James Conant said.
"And I just wanted to thank you again, and thank your friends that you're going to recruit and have you tag along for the day and we look forward to seeing the finished place of these beautiful new trees."
Tags: trees,
