Arbor Day No Average Holiday for "Tree City USA"

Tree Committee members and Payson Royalty listen to a guest speaker at a recent Arbor Day event in Payson.  Pictured (right-left): Janean Dean, Debbie Bushnell, Emily Hayes, and Paige Downey.

Arbor Day is no average holiday for Payson, a community designated Tree City USA. Payson observed the event last week in proper fashion. Three new maple trees were planted in town.

The trees were contributed by J&J Nursery and Garden Center of Layton, Utah. Springlake Elementary fifth-graders were called upon this year to assist in their planting at a park just north of their Payson campus.

The students and their teachers, Heather Balli, Perry Ewell, Ashley Grover, and Katie Shaw, gathered in bleachers at the park the afternoon of April 29. Before the planting began, they got a lesson in trees, the environment, and the event that celebrates them.

Bill Fagergren of J&J Nursery was among speakers that afternoon, sharing tales of Arbor Day's origins and a history on the local landscape as it appeared when pioneer settlers arrived, mid-19^th century. He called upon the students to make note of Arbor Day's founder, J. Sterling Morton (1832-1902), and take stock in the necessity of trees. Twenty trees equate to a day's worth of air-conditioning per home, he said, and there are sixty million trees in the United States today, quantifying their value in dollars and environmental impact.

“Our job is to be responsible stewards [of trees],” he said.

The event was overseen by the Payson City Tree Committee. Lead by longtime city employee, Debbie Busnell, with newly hired Events Coordinator, Janean Dean, the crew was comprised of Mark Hyland, Greg Madsen, Justin Openshaw, Blair Andreason, and City Councilman Scott Phillips. City crewmembers, including Brad Pulver, Trino Zavala, Todd Reynaud, and Ashley Christensen joined in the Arbor Day tree-planting, there with the equipment and know-how to lead the kids in the process. Mickey Lane did his part by contributing to the sound-system required to transmit speakers' lessons to the children that day.

Miss Payson Emily Hayes and First Runner-up Paige Downey participated in commentary as well as in a drawing that resulted in a lucky fifth grader made the recipient of a honey locust tree. The tree was slated for delivery to her home by members of the Payson City Tree Committee after the event wrapped up.