College of Forestry celebrates Arbor Day

With today being Arbor Day, UW's College of Forest Resources will end this week's annual Arbor Day Fair.

The weeklong fair, geared toward children, will have brought about 3,000 students from local grade schools to the campus to see the displays on wildlife, recycling and papermaking. UW students are invited to attend the final day of the fair, and participate in ongoing events and displays.

"We want the kids to understand where the forest products that they use everyday come from, and to learn to appreciate the environment," said Duane Emmons, a forester with the college. "If you reach people when they're young, you can get them to start thinking about the environment in a different way."

The fair offers 15 hands-on learning stations. Students have flocked around glass tanks containing various amphibians and booths where they can make crafts out of pinecones. A "tree tour" of the college grounds shows some of the species of trees on campus native to the Pacific Northwest.

"It is incredible when you see the joy in the eyes of these children when they are learning about science," said Colleen Ponto, president of the College of Forest Resources Alumni Association. Ponto spent six months coordinating the event, and said the positive feedback from the students is why she donates so much of her time to the event.

Those at the fair have been given western hemlock saplings, Washington's state tree, and are encouraged to take it home and find an appropriate place to plant it. Some of the children helped UW President Richard McCormick and Kristiina Vogt, dean of the College of Forest Resources, plant a noble fir on the south end of Winkenwerder Hall in yesterday's tree-planting ceremony.

"The kids can come back here years later, and see that the trees that they've planted are still growing," said Emmons.