Annual Arbor Day Seedling Giveaway is April 21
April 15, 2018
Ashland Community and Technical College is hosting the annual Arbor Day Seedling
Giveaway on its main campus on April 21.
The event will be in the front parking lot of the College Drive Campus from 9
a.m.-noon or until all seedlings are gone.
ACTC is partnering with Kentucky Power and the City of Ashland to giveaway the
free seedlings. Limited supplies of eastern redbud, hazelnut, grey dogwood and silky
dogwood will be available from Kentucky Power. These low growth trees are great for
landscaping and will not grow so tall that they interfere with overhead utility wires
or structures.
The city’s tree list is as follows: cypress, eastern redbud, hazelnut, pawpaw,
sassafras, silky dogwood, persimmon, Chinese chestnut, Kentucky coffeetree, northern
red oak, willow oak and Virginia pine.
ACTC students and employees will assist in the distribution as a service learning
project.
While this event is in celebration of National Arbor Day, ACTC is also celebrating
its third annual Tree Campus USA recognition.
“Ashland Community and Technical College is proud to be honored with a Tree Campus
USA recognition for the third year in a row,” said Paul Seasor, director of maintenance
and operations at the college. “Part of how we earn that recognition is by service
learning projects like the tree giveaway. Other ways we meet Tree Campus requirements
are maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan and dedicated annual
expenditures for a campus tree program. We are thrilled to be partnering with Kentucky
Power and the city on this year’s giveaway.”
Seasor said an effort has been made to bring native species of trees back on
campus, along with removing invasive species, which will help make the campus more
eco-friendly and sustainable.
“We are preserving what healthy trees we do have and when we remove an unhealthy
tree, we replace it with a species that is better suited for our region, or is more
disease resistant,” he said. “We are planning for the future by following our campus
tree plan. This will assure we are looking toward the future of trees on campus.”