WESTFIELD — The middle school has planted more than 40 trees on its campus since Arbor Day, and the principal says it’s on track to reach its goal of 50 trees next year.
“We actually planted slightly fewer than we originally planned,” said Westfield Middle School Principal Jesse McMillan, adding some will be saved until next spring in order to dedicate the time to ensuring the planted trees’ survival.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
McMillan’s efforts are part of the Greening the Gateway Cities tree planting program, a state initiative that has been planting trees all around Westfield’s downtown for the past three years.
“All of them look beautiful — we only lost one, which was anticipated for this size of a planting. Overall they’re healthy — we have watering bags on them, which is helpful, and we fill them once a week,” McMillan said.
One of the key partners of the Greening the Gateway Cities Program is the Westfield Puerto Rican Association, which has launched a “Say Yes to the Trees” initiative to encourage families and businesses in the city to get involved and plant trees.
In June, WEPRA President Agma Sweeney, who McMillan said was one of the individuals who first brought the program to Westfield, presented a certificate of appreciation to the school in June for their participation in the program.
“The trees play an important role for increasing Westfield’s urban tree canopy along with cleaner air, a healthy environment, natural beauty and important learning opportunities for the students now and in the future,” stated the message from Sweeney and WEPRA. For more information about the campaign, visit www.wepra.org/urbancanopy.
“That was a pleasant surprise to be recognized by them,” McMillan said.
He said the project at the school first started when he was speaking to School Committee member Kathleen Hillman last fall about ways to enhance the school property.
“We thought, what better way to do this than with trees? As someone who lives in the Hilltowns, surrounded by trees, I could certainly appreciate what this could offer to our school community,” said McMillan, a Chesterfield resident.
The trees that have been planted are a mix of large and small shade trees, suited to an urban environment, long-lived, and many are native and have ornamental features, with the more decorative trees planted in the front of the school.
At an Arbor Day ceremony on April 26, a tulip tree was planted to kick off the school’s collaboration with the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Greening the Gateway Cities program in Westfield, which has a goal of planting 800 trees in the city.
Speaking at the ceremony were state Sen. John Velis (D-Westfield), acting Education Commissioner Russell Johnston, urban forester Sarah Greenleaf of the Greening the Gateway Cities program, and Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski. Mayor Michael McCabe and members of the School Committee and City Council also participated, digging a ceremonial shovel of dirt.
“We started planting in Westfield in spring 2021 and have planted 616 trees thus far. We will continue working in the Westfield planting zone for the foreseeable future and are always looking for new interested homeowners, renters, and business owners to sign up for our program,” Greenleaf said at the time. Westfield Middle School’s 40 trees have now been added to that total.
