KWU Students Dig Into Tree Planting on Arbor Day

Seven Kansas Wesleyan students picked up shovels Friday, April 28, and helped the City of Salina celebrate Kansas Arbor Day.

Steve Blue, city forester, lead the planting of a crabapple tree on the KWU campus. He gave tips on tree planting for a small crowd as the students dug a hole, placed the tree, filled the hole and added mulch. Students helping with the planting were biology majors Tanner Ranieri, senior; Josiah Smith, senior; Betzabeth Garcia, senior; MicKayla Chiles, senior; Dylan Boyd, junior; and Katie Hernandez, senior; and Ecospheric Studies and Community Resilience major Diego Sanchez, senior.

"We know that we have about 9,000 street tree in Salina," Blue explained "Probably about 15 years ago we had about 14,000 street trees in Salina. So how do you fix that? You push tree planting."

Salina was recognized as a Tree City USA Community for the 27th consecutive year.