WATERTOWN – Riverside Middle School students helped plant 20 trees this spring as part of a new educational forest near the Rock River.
According to the Rock River Coalition, the organization partnered with the City of Watertown forester, students and staff from Riverside Middle School to design, restore and maintain a diverse forest on school grounds. The project focuses on an underused space between the Rock River and the middle school.
The coalition says 25 students from Jonathan Pickelmann’s agriculture class walked to the site on May 28. After an introduction on tree planting from Watertown City Forester Ryan Thurow, students began planting trees. The work continued over the following week.
The school forest is intended to serve as a living lab for ecology, stormwater management and forestry.
“We’re adding trees to our forest area for our students to use in classes,” Pickelmann said in the release. He says students will study tree identification, tree growth, wood products and tree-related jobs in the community.
The Rock River Coalition says the project is part of a broader effort to increase urban water conservation practices, reduce climate impacts and improve green infrastructure in the Rock River Basin and Watertown.
The project is funded by the Quirk Foundation and Protect WI Waterways. Key partners include Riverside Middle School, the City of Watertown’s Forestry Department and the Rock River Coalition.
Ryan Thurow, City of Watertown Forester, teaches Jon Pickelmann’s middle school agriculture class on how to properly plant a tree.
