Sheboygan North High students sold 100 trees for Earth Day. Here's what to know about their impact and other projects.
SHEBOYGAN – The Sheboygan North High School Environmental Club hosted a tree sapling pick-up and residential planting event to commemorate Earth Day on April 22.
But more than just a one-day event, the sale was evidence of club members trying to put their interests into action and in doing so, impact their community.
The club, in partnership with Tree-Plenish, an environmental nonprofit empowering youth to create sustainable schools and communities, sold roughly 100 red maple, nannyberry and flowering dogwood saplings.
“It’s something good to try to offset paper usage and energy consumption,” said David Miller, biology and botany teacher and club adviser at North.
Miller said the original goal was actually to sell 300 saplings, but when orders were due in March, large snowfalls were still coming down, so spring was not foremost in people’s minds.
“100 trees is better than no trees,” Miller said.
Trees purify air, stabilize soil and increase home values.
Trees are essential players in community health, providing services like soil stabilization, air purification and flooding prevention. They’re also critical for animal and plant habitats, water quality and carbon dioxide absorption.
Having tree coverage near a house can also increase its value and decrease energy bills, providing shade in the summer and heat from the sun in the winter.
Miller added the notion of “biophilia,” or the human desire to interact with or spend time in nature, is unique to trees.
“Very few organisms give that feeling (to people) than trees,” he said.
Replenishing Sheboygan's tree coverage
Only about 30% to 40% of the county's original tree cover remains as a result of historical industrialization and farming, Miller said.
Trees have also been devastated by invasive species, like the Dutch elm disease in the 1960s and 1970s and the emerald ash borer in recent years.
Several groups are working to increase tree population, many in response to the emerald ash borer destroying swaths of ash trees in the area.
The Department of Public Works treated more than 800 ash trees with insecticide and removed about 740 ash trees, according to the 2021 Green Tier Report. It also removed nearly 300 dead, dying or hazardous trees and planted about 4,330 small trees and shrubs between Maywood and Estuary parks.
The department also contracted to plant 480 trees in 2020, financed with city funds, Community Development Block Grant funds, a grant from 100 Friends of Wisconsin and U.S. Forest Service and local Rotary Club donations.
Sheboygan County’s annual tree and shrub sale program, operated by the Planning and Conservation Department since 1999, has made efforts to restore tree coverage, too, selling more than 1 million trees, according to its website.
Local action for the next generation
North's environmental club is still in its infancy, but Miller said the students who’ve joined “care about tomorrow.”
“There's a lot of instant gratification among youth,” he said. “There's a lot of, ‘I care about today, and I want to eat this sugary treat. I want to drink this soda.’
“But they have (a) more farseeing view. … They seem to have a deep investment in the future.”
The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has consistently called for global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the subsequent warming of the planet, warning of the threats to sustainable life if global heat rises to 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.
Tackling environmental issues like climate change can be overwhelming.
Dana Yedica, North High junior and co-president of the environmental club, uses the work they’re doing as a way to draw the community together around larger environmental issues, like climate change.
“We need to realize that there's stuff we can do, even if it seems like a very big issue,” Yedica said. “There's little stuff we can do every day to change, and I think that's what people need to learn.”
The environmental club has pursued a variety of environmental projects this year, including weekly trash pickups during the fall, plastic bottle recycling for plant holders and a plastic bag drive in which they collected more than 700 pounds.
Last year, they also sold 150 tree saplings at the first sale and held a Sole4Souls recycled shoe drive.
Isaac Brashaw, North High junior and co-president of the environmental club, said working on environmental issues is “important because our environment is where we live in the world.”
"If we don't care for it now, in the future it's just going to be worse," he said.
Next year could hold more partnerships, projects
Next year, Yedica said she’d like to see the club partner with local organizations like ROOTS (Restoration of our Trees Sheboygan), a collaboration between Sheboygan Rotary Club and Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership, on environmental projects.
Brashaw added he’d like to focus on improving North’s recycling, something they’ve already discussed with school administration.
The environmental club could also adopt a beach with the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership, do group outings like hikes and hold an E-waste drive, Miller said.
He added he’d like to see the club host the plastic bag drive again and build a larger membership base.
Upcoming plant sale to benefit club, botany department
To continue efforts, the environmental club and North Greenhouse will host its annual plant sale at the schoolwide Fine Arts EXPO event next month, which is the largest fundraiser for the botany department and club.
Proceeds will go toward purchasing greenhouse supplies, shrubs and trees for schoolgrounds and supplies to grow seedlings for Meals on Wheels.
A variety of herbs and veggies, houseplants and flower baskets will be sold 3:30-6 p.m. May 5, 4-9 p.m. May 6 and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. May 7.
More: Sheboygan has revived its Sustainability Task Force. Here's what to know about the relaunch.
Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @alexx_garner.
This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan North High School students marked Earth Day with tree sale
