PORT TOWNSEND — Volunteers from five schools planted 2,500 native trees and shrubs along Tarboo Creek earlier this month during the eighth annual Plant-A-Thon.
The 125 children, parents, grandparents and teachers planted the trees during a daylong work party on Feb. 4, said Judge Rubin, director of stewardship at the Northwest Watershed Institute — or NWI — based in Port Townsend, which coordinates the annual event.
A snowstorm had postponed the event, originally scheduled in January.
By the new date, the weather was “spectacular,” Rubin said.
The plant-a-thon project is part of the overall Tarboo Watershed Program, an effort of the NWI and 35 groups and landowners to restore and protect the entire Tarboo Creek stream system, from its headwaters to Tarboo-Dabob Bay.
More than 120,000 trees have been planted in the Tarboo Valley since 2004, and of those, more than 29,000 — about 24 percent —have been planted by volunteers through the plant-a-thon, Rubin said.
The planting helps restore salmon and wildlife habitat in the Tarboo Watershed — which was cleared and drained for pasture in the early 1900s, and is also a fundraiser for Quilcene Primary, Chimacum Pi Program, Sunfield Waldorf School in Port Hadlock, and the Port Townsend schools of Jefferson Community School and Swan School.
For each tree they plant, students sell a corresponding “tree card” for $5 to family and friends.
The person who buys it in turn sends it to honor someone special.
The tree cards, created this year by Port Townsend artist Lucy Congon Hanson, are sent worldwide.
All money raised through the sale of tree cards goes to the schools to support their programs.
Prior to the planting day, students receive classroom education to learn about the habitat needs of salmon and kick off the fundraising part of the project, Rubin said.
“It is vital that the students — even the youngest ones — understand the relationships between stream-side trees, water quality and habitat for salmon at all life stages,” REubin said.
“They realize that salmon live in this creek as their nursery for a year before heading to sea and returning as adults,” she added.
“Children naturally relate to animals, and their struggle to survive,” Rubin said.
“The students all want to help out.”
Although the concept of planting a tree in honor of a loved one is not new, the idea of engaging school children and their families to plant trees themselves and raise money from the sale of the certificates is unique, Rubin said.
Sunfield parent and tree-planter Peter Bates added, “With other [programs, you send in your money, but you never know whether the trees actually get planted, or where.
“With [plant-a-thon], I know that they are, because we planted them.”
Bates, along with his partner Jen and their children, Skyler and Chance, planted more than 100 trees.
NWI paid for the trees and planting supplies through a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partnership grant.
Charles Espey, a photographer whose photojournalism credits include National Geographic, donated his skills for the second year to chronicle the plant-a-thon.
An exhibit of his photos is being planned at Jefferson Community School for the March gallery walk.
Originally conceived and organized by NWI, OPEPO and Swan School, the annual tree-planting event is based on a basic philosophy of cooperation.
In 2009, the program was expanded to allow more schools from south county to participate — all three are still on board.
Schools have raised $12,000 toward their collective goal of $15,000 this year, Rubin said.
The schools garnered support from thousands of individuals, and a long list of local donors and supporters, including The Food Coop, Henery’s Hardware and Goodman Sanitation, who have supported the planting event since its inception in 2004, and Metro Bagels and The Candle Store, new sponsors of the event.
Although the seedlings have already been put in the ground, the public is still encouraged to sponsor the remaining trees, she added.
Honorary tree cards are still available for purchase for all participating schools at www.swanschool.net.