Students help with tree planting at Miners Memorial Park in Bethel Park

The first-graders gathered at Miners Memorial Park had learned their lessons well.

“Why do we plant trees?” Brian Tarbert, president of the Bethel Park Shade Tree Commission, asked the youngsters, who proceeded to give detailed answers based on their studies about the environmentally beneficial attributes of the tall, woody perennials.

The students from Benjamin Franklin Elementary School joined commission members, municipal officials and other conservation-minded residents on Oct. 14 to put the finished touches on planting 19 trees in the park, including the important step of applying mulch.

Again, the kids knew their stuff, with Tarbert agreeing with the information they provided.

“It helps protect the roots,” he said. “It helps keep the roots moist and keeps the weeds away.”

Corresponding with street names in the nearby Coverdale neighborhood, the new trees are cherry, oak and maple, specifically:

• Swamp white oak, which grows rapidly and can reach 60 to 80 feet tall.

• Yoshino cherry, also known as the Japanese flowering cherry, one of the most popular and widely planted of its kind.

• Green mountain, fall fiesta and legacy sugar maples, renowned for their picturesque orange-red color during autumn.

• Redpointe maple, named for the color it turns this time of year.

• Autumn blaze maple, a hybrid of red and silver maples.

The shade tree commission will plant eight more trees in the park during the spring, adding beech, cedar, chestnut, elm, hornbeam and tulip tree to the mix.

Formed in 2017, the commission has duties and responsibilities that include studying the problems and determining the needs of the municipality in connection with a tree-planting, maintenance and removal program. The group also assesses the need for regulations pertaining to tree preservation, protection and replacement specifications and guidelines for new construction and renovation projects.

More information is available at bethelpark.net/government/boards-and-commissions/shade-tree-commission.