In order to celebrate Earth Day in April 2021 members of CCTU recently planted native cottonwood trees and shrubs along urban Bear Creek. This project was in cooperation with the City of Lakewood and has been an annual chapter event since 2017. The project was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19, as were most of our chapter's other activities. It was nice to get out with friends to do something constructive for Mother Earth.
It is one thing to buy a plant, put in the ground, and then forget it. It is quite another thing to nurture that plant and ensure its long term survival and growth. The City appreciates our chapter's donation to buy these plants as well as our chapter's volunteer labor to plant them. The City takes our investment in the survival of these plants very seriously. They make sure the saplings are protected from beavers with fencing and they make a point to water the plantings regularly while the young plants are becoming established.
After the most recent Earth Day event, Jerry Shin took some time to go back and check on the cottonwood trees he helped plant in 2018 and 2019. He was glad to see those trees thriving, several feet taller and inches larger in circumference compared to when he helped put them in the ground. This is clear evidence the City intends to nurture these trees, and that those trees will be a lasting legacy for all the Cutthroat Chapter members who's fundraising and labor are helping to protect and conserve that urban riparian environment. Thanks to all their hard work these cottonwoods will likely be here years in the future, continuing to protect this urban oasis long in the future after we have passed from this Earth.
The pic with John Cristantiello and Jerry was from 2018 showing one of several cottonwoods they planted that day. The pic of Jerry alone is from 2021 showing one of those same thriving and much larger cottonwoods.
2018
2021