News

November 3, 2008

26 trees planted to aid flood protection

Wyoming Area students place foliage in West Wyoming to reduce storm water run-off.

CAMILLE FIOTI Times Leader Correspondent

WEST WYOMING --Students from Wyoming Area High School devoted a good part of Sunday afternoon planting trees in a flood-prone section of the borough.

Alongside council members Daniel Gadomski and Eileen Cipriani, the ecology-minded students planted 26 trees around the edge of a wetlands area behind the Sixth Street Little League field.

The Abraham’s Creek Watershed Association sponsored the project, which also included planting trees and shrubs along the bank of the creek to reduce storm water run-off. A $6,700 grant from the Pennsylvania American Water Co. was used to purchase the trees and to fund several educational workshops held this summer relating to creek management and flooding issues.

Mary Pat Appel, a consulting arborist with the Brown Hill Tree Company in Meshoppen, was on hand to advise the group on how to properly plant the trees. The trees chosen -- red maple, witch hazel and river birch -- will absorb a lot of water and provide shade for the baseball field, she said.

Senior Gina Sabatini said that as a member of the school’s Envirothon team she has been involved with a number of environmental projects. She looks forward to a career as an environmental photojournalist.

Sabatini’s fellow Envirothon team members, as well as students who are members of the National Wild Turkey Federation and others working on community service hours, learned how vegetation can help control flooding and soil erosion.

Damien Rutkoski, the Envirothon team’s advisor and a biology and anatomy teacher at the high school, said he loves to see so many students wanting to help the environment. “They realize there’s a lot more to this world than themselves,” he said.

“The future of our woods and wildlife is gonna be handed down to these kids. If we don’t get them involved now we’re gonna be in trouble.”

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