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‘To protect and preserve’

Local students to plant 850 trees

Trooper Brett Dawson, Jacquelyn Niederbuhl and Petrova Elementary School Dean of Students Siera Pickering hold a certificate as Atticus Pickering, 8, holds one of 850 saplings Niederbuhl delivered to schools around the Tri-Lakes on Friday, which students will take home to plant. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — Jacquelyn Niederbuhl was like Johnny Appleseed for evergreens on Friday, driving from elementary school to elementary school around the Tri-Lakes delivering 850 saplings for students to plant in their yards.

Friday was “National Love A Tree Day,” and Niederbuhl, who owns the Uncommon Earthworks landscape design company, said she wanted students to recognize the importance of trees and forests for climate mitigation and community health.

The trees from the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Saratoga Tree Nursery can be planted as part of the state’s “25 Million Trees by 2033” initiative.

“Every tree counts!” Niederbuhl said.

Students from Bloomingdale Elementary School, Petrova Elementary School and St. Bernard’s Elementary School in Saranac Lake, and L.P. Quinn Elementary School in Tupper Lake will plant the trees and can register them in a statewide database. Fifth graders were also given journals to document their tree’s progress.

Jacquelyn Niederbuhl; Trooper Brett Dawson; Nessa Weakley, 9; Lola Tanzini, 8; Tomi Pickering, 6, whose birthday is today; Esmae Tanzini, 5; Atticus Pickering, 8; and Petrova Elementary School Dean of Students Siera Pickering hold a few of the 850 saplings Niederbuhl delivered to local schools on Friday, which students will take home to plant. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Some of the saplings were already so big, Niederbuhl wondered what it would look like being carried home on the bus.

Petrova got 325 trees, L. P. Quinn got 334, Bloomingdale got 103 and St. Bernard’s got 100.

Sebastian Vlach, 11; Orson Amell, 11; Jeffrey Hovey, 10; and Jace Daily, 10, hold a few of the 850 saplings Jacquelyn Niederbuhl delivered to local schools on Friday, which students will take home to plant. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Tomi Pickering, 6, holds one of 850 saplings Jacquelyn Niederbuhl delivered to schools around the Tri-Lakes on Friday, which students will take home to plant. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Atticus Pickering, 8, holds one of 850 saplings Jacquelyn Niederbuhl delivered to schools around the Tri-Lakes on Friday, which students will take home to plant. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Lola Tanzini, 8, holds one of 850 saplings Jacquelyn Niederbuhl delivered to schools around the Tri-Lakes on Friday, which students will take home to plant. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

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