CHMS Students Help Conserve Volunteer's Green

In September, sixth grade students from Camels Hump MIddle School took a socially distanced, walking field trip to Volunteer's green to help with bank restoration and tree planting. Students worked with employees from the State Wildlife department to learn more about the River Bank Erosion, and the importance of preserving the river bank. In an effort to help slow the erosion, students planted Elm Trees, redirected the walking trails, and removed some invasive plants. Polaris sixth graders have written more about their experience at the green:

Planting Elm Trees by Piper K.

Today here in Richmond, Vermont, the continuously eroding Winooski river, has been wearing away the Richmond Green. Polaris 6th graders from Camels Hump Middle School were planting elm trees, to create and add to our riparian buffer zone, named the Silver Maple, Ostrich Fern, FloodPlain Forest, here in Richmond, Vermont. Since elm trees grow to be so big over time, by planting them, they will hold the soil in place so the bank will have less of a risk of washing away. The Richmond Green is used for soccer, baseball, and many Richmont citizens go for walks there everyday. By planting trees there we are helping slow the process of erosion, and taking away of this beautiful spot.

Dutch Elm Disease by Elise C.

The Dutch elm disease is a fungus of elm trees. It accidently made its way into North America and Europe, where it killed many elm trees. Scientists think that the fungus originated in Asia; elm trees in Asia are resistant to the disease. The elm trees in North America didn't have resistance to the Dutch elm disease yet because they didn't recognize the foreign fungus, Ophiostoma ulmi, which came to the United States in the early 1930s and can kill all varieties of elm trees.

There are two main ways of spreading the disease. First, beetles lay their eggs in infected trees, acquire the fungus, and carry it to other healthy trees. The second way the disease is spread is through root grafts. When the roots intertwine and join, they pass information to each other; in this case, the Dutch elm disease.

An elm with the fungus has flagging. Flagging is when the leaves on an upper branch of the tree curl, then turn gray-green and finally brown. Also, an infected tree often will have brown lines on the wood beneath the bark. These are both signs of the Dutch elm disease.

During the field trip to the Richmond Volunteer's Green, team Polaris filled buckets of water from the Winooski river. We pulled up elm trees with the disease and dug into the soil to place the new elm trees, which had all been bred to resist the disease. We put them in the ground and covered the hole back up with soil. Then we poured the water around the base of the plant, on the soil. Polaris probably planted about twenty-five to thirty disease-resistant elm trees, in hopes that the Dutch elm trees continue to grow. The growth of these trees will help to keep the river bank in place, and prevent some erosion.

Why Did We Block the Walking Trail? by Casey P.

Polaris students had to block a section of the volunteer's green trail because of erosion. This means that the water of the Winooski River has slowly chipped away at the bank that the trail sits on. A lot of the dirt has been wiped away by the river. The trail was moved over because when people walk on the trail it makes the bank weaker, therefore it erodes faster. We also blocked the trail for human safety, as the bank is eroding, as I said it is getting weaker that means that if someone walks on the edge of the trail where it is weak then the bank might fall away under this person's feet causing them to go into the river and possibly getting really hurt. By moving the trail over we have helped prevent all of these things from happening until the river gets the bank to be at the new parts of the trail, then hopefully when that happens the batch of sixth graders will go and do what we did and have as much fun as we did.

Knotweed by Rowan B.

The Camels Hump Middle School schoolers had a field trip to the Volunteer Green and we took the time to remove some Japanese knotweed. Japanese knotweed is a fast growing species that invades the banks of rivers and streams. It is a tall, leafy plant with hollow stems like bamboo. It has small greenish-white flowers.

It is important to remove this knotweed because the thick patches make it nearly impossible for other plants or trees to grow. It grows in direct sunlight along forest edges including along the trail and riverbank near the park. Knotweed spreads by floodwaters so it covers the majority of the streambank of the Winooski river for hundreds of feet.

With knotweed, it is important to cut the small patches first before they spread into big patches. If people don't cut knotweed, the insects and animals that rely on the plants that should be growing where the knotweed is, won't survive.

Sixth graders put in several hours of community service, learned the importance of preserving our earth, worked together collaboratively, and had a great time. We look forward to our next experience working with Jon Kart and the Department of Wildlife to help with the conservation of plants and wildlife in our area.