Led by the Regina Ski Club (RSC), students from Argyle School stopped by Kinsmen Park Tuesday to plant trees. “We just started thinking about how to increase skiership, but also increase the biodiversity of the park and snow capture,” said RSC Dave Hall. “I knew the principal at Argyle and reached out to her, and she thought it’d be a great idea for her kids to get involved and plant today. I think whenever you can get a student outside and explore nature in a way, I think it’s very positive for everybody.” One young planter was six-year-old Hollis, a Grade 1 student. “Our community can breathe more, and that can help people more,” explained Hollis. “We’ve learned about soil, like sandy soil, wet soil and clay soil, so this also kind of connects to that,” explained Ellie, a Grade 3 student. “So it’s just a review and just getting to know what I’ve learned, put into the ground.” Margot, a Grade 3 student, says it reminded her of working with her mother in her garden. “The three inch rule and different seed depth and how wide apart they should be from each other, and also how good cherry tomatoes are,” she said. It’s the Regina Ski Club’s first initiative to bring more trees to Kinsmen Park. Next year they’ll look to plant additional trees around the soccer field and baseball diamond. “We’re going to continue to move north, especially in areas where we get wind whipping through. It sort of doesn’t lead to a lot of snow catching ability,” said Hall. “Then smaller little areas in the northwest part of the park will be sites of new plants.” According to Hall, 34 trees were planted Tuesday morning, along with 225 shrubs. 12 classrooms came out to help in the morning hours.
