I’m writing this letter on behalf of my fellow Baker City Tree Board members. On Saturday, April 22, we had the help of some 20 Honor Society students who volunteered when we went to the high school and asked if any students were interested in helping us clean up and remove the temporary pavers that were around the young trees on Resort Street and were choking them and causing problems. After all, we said, it was to celebrate Earth Day! They dove right in! They signed up! They were responsible, eager to help and once given the brief instructions and the tools, i.e., crow bars, pickaxes and shovels, they tackled the job.

We knew it was going to be a huge job and we weren’t sure just how many we could get done that day. We were hoping to get at least 10 done. The pavers were heavy and once removed, they needed to be then neatly stacked on pallets so that they could later be picked up by forklift and placed on a flatbed trailer. We had 45 tree wells to do. And we also want to recognize Thatcher’s Ace Hardware, they provided the driver and the forklift to pick up the loaded pallets and place them on the trailer. We couldn’t have done that without them. We thank them and we know the City thanks them too. Quail Ridge Golf Course donated and loaded the mulch that was used around the trees.

Baker City can be rightly proud of its young people. And those young people can be rightly proud of their city and the closeness of their community. I told them that when they walk down Resort Street now, they can claim a sense of ownership and be proud of what they helped accomplished and what it means to be a citizen.

AND, we got ALL 45 tree wells done!! A big thank you to those students!

The Baker City Tree Board:

Christine Howard, on behalf of:

Lyle Kuchenbecker (chairman)

Eric Wirfs

Bob Parker

Brian Novick

Aubrey Hancock

Cherie Ludwig, Public Works support