Environmental science students ecently visited the National Resource Conservation Service facility in Cleveland and bundled over 1,000 trees.Students in Dr. Nina Baghai-Riding’s Foundations in Environmental Science class recently visited the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) facility in Cleveland and bundled over 1,000 trees.
Baghai-Riding’s class has participated in this service activity for the past five years.
The trees came in large boxes and were mostly saplings of local bottomland hardwood species native to the Mississippi Delta, including bald cypress, willow oak, water oak, Nuttall oak and Shumard oak.
“Native trees provide food for local wildlife and migrating birds, are indigenous to a specific area, reduce homogenization, are able to cope with native pests, and require less maintenance compared to exotic trees,” said Baghai-Riding.
The bundling consisted of putting two-to-three trees in a plastic bag and were then tied with masking tape and placed in a marked bin to be given to the local community on Feb. 13.
The NRCS hopes that the trees will be planted at residences, fields and parks. Teressa Oakes, district administrator for the Bolivar County Soil and Water Conservation Service, organized the event.
Students participating in the event were also able to acquire federal government volunteer hours as well as meet other employees who work for NRCS.
This year, Trinity Long, a soil conservationist with NRCS, spoke to the class and discussed how to acquire internships and federal jobs.
For more information concerning the environmental science program at Delta State University, contact Baghai-Riding, professor of biology and environmental science, at nbaghai@deltastate.edu.
