Filling the forest: Students help start next stand of trees at Idlewild

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

There’s a saying about many hands and light work. Dozens of Charles City High School students helped Floyd County Conservation staff plant 32 trees Thursday morning at Idlewild State Park north of Floyd.

The students, freshmen through seniors, are members of the high school Expeditions class. Social studies teacher Robert Pittman runs the class, and one of his goals is to get students out of the classroom to experience nature hands-on.

Park ranger Tyler Walters explained that the trees are intended to help start a new generation of trees in the park.

“We have a really old stand of oak trees,” he said. “Some of them are starting to die out.”

The class helped plant a mixture of bur oak, white oak, red oak, swamp white oak, maple and red bud trees, Walters said.

Heidi Reams, the Floyd County naturalist, was also there to lend a hand. She said she met Expeditions teacher Pittman when they canoed together in an event last fall.

Pittman said Reams has helped his classes with projects, and the tree-planting Thursday was one way to say thanks.

Reams said the trees were paid for with a $4,000 cost-sharing grant between Floyd County Conservation and the Trees Forever organization.

The grant was through the Working Watersheds: Buffers and Beyond program of Trees Forever, which helps to improve water quality and soil retention by implementing conservation practices such as planting trees.