A West End school added some greenery to its playground Wednesday, helping replace some of the mature trees slated to be chopped due to Dutch elm disease.
Students at the West End elementary school spent Wednesday planting 51 trees, including trembling aspen, burr oak and crabapple. The trees are the beginnings of the Greenway School Community Forest, a green space open to students and community members.
“We have this lovely space. Unfortunately, it was just nothing but grass,” said Nic Skrabec, a teacher at the school who helped organize the tree-planting day.
Skrabec noted that the area around Burnell and St. Matthews has lost many elm trees in recent years, and that the remaining elms on school property are all set to be removed. The new trees are a variety of species to avoid a similar fate.
“There’s a variety of trees that will provide shade at different heights, throughout …