Students make campus a little greener

BAUMHOLDER, Germany - - April 22 marked Earth Day 2011 and one day before Baumholder American High School students were doing their part to make the earth a greener place to live in by planting 10 saplings next to the High School Playhouse.

"Earlier this year we did a school beatification project and this is kind of like an extension of it," said Bria Johnson, a student at Baumholder American High School and a member of the school’s National Honor Society. "We started out with just beautifying our campus but I guess because of Earth Day and because Mr. Robinson (school principal) wanted us to expand over here where there’s a lot of trees already, we planted these trees for Earth Day here because it would be a nice healthy environment for them to grow in," said Johnson.

In winter, as part of their beautification project, the students planted tulip bulbs which are now blooming at various locations around the school campus.

The saplings they planted were donated by Manfred Bäcker, Forstoberinspektor (forstmeister) from the Federal Forest Office at Baumholder. "I am always pleased to support this sort of activity and I highly encourage it. I selected the trees directly from my personal stock." The saplings Bäcker selected included Chestnut, Cycamore, Beech, and Douglas Pine.

Tree planting, as simple as it may seem, can be a challenging endeavor, especially around Baumholder. The military community is evolving and before anything as permanent as trees can be set in the ground, one has to look ahead and see if in five or ten years down the road these trees are not going to be right in the middle of a construction site. A consultation with members of Baumholder’s master planning board ensured these trees will not go under the axe before their time.

Bringing all the pieces of this project together was Felix Purvis from the U.S. Army Garrison Baumholder Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobility and Security. Purvis met with the Schools Liaison Officer, Pamela Johnson, and Heinz Baumann, chief of operations and maintenance, Directorate of Public Works. Together they determined a time, date, and place for the planting and Purviz ensured the planting site was appropriate by consulting with the master planning board.

Manfred "Pflänchen" Peters and Benno Wahl from Baumholder’s DPW roads and grounds division did the heavy lifting. They ensured the holes were dug in the right place and helped the students with the planting and Baumann assisted in acquiring the trees from the forstmeister.

So on April 21 the students showed up at the appointed time, got their hands a little dirty and made Baumholder a little more green.