Adams County 4-Hers ‘learn by doing’ with oak savanna project | Education

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QUINCY — Andrea Schaffnit didn’t mind getting her hands dirty Friday afternoon to make a difference for the planet.

Schaffnit, her sister Annabelle and her brother Parker from the Ursa Willing Workers 4-H Club joined 4-H members from across Adams County and other volunteers to plant 25 swamp, burr and black oak trees at Bob Mays Park.

“We just really love supporting our community,” Schaffnit said.

Schaffnit and her brother pulled out their shovels to widen a hole already dug by the Quincy Park District, then carefully worked together to pull the tree from its container, plant it, backfill the hole and surround it with a bag of mulch.

“It’s fun,” Parker Schaffnit said. “It’s my first time to plant a tree.”

The district’s Director of Parks Matt Higley appreciated the trees, and the extra hands to help plant them.

“Trees are always great to put in open places,” Higley said. “We’re putting them around the disc golf out at Bob Mays. They’re going to create some obstacles out there and provide some shade in the future.”

Known as a savanna, the tree groupings will bring new life to oak-hickory forests currently under threat in Illinois. “Oak savannas are being overtaken by invasive species, as well as more shade-tolerant trees, such as maples,” University of Illinois Extension 4-H specialist Curt Sinclair said in a news release about the project.

The decrease of beneficial disturbances, such as prescribed fires and proper timber management, also threatens large, mature oak trees.

“Illinois 4-H is primed to take action to increase the number of oak trees in the state,” Sinclair said. “The natural world is talking to us, and Illinois 4-H is primed to listen, learn and act.”

Adams County 4-H Program Coordinator Siera Duesterhaus said the tree planting gave 4-Hers a chance to “learn by doing” with a community service project focused on trees and the environment.

“They can help out the community with a better environment,” Duesterhaus said.

Burton Flyers 4-H Club member Evan Reichert got some help planting a tree from his grandpa Kenny Reichert.

Planting trees is a good idea “because they make oxygen,” Evan said. “It’s kind of fun to do it.”

Doing something locally like planting a tree can help with global issues like carbon neutrality and nutrient runoff.

“More trees will move us closer to cleaner water, healthier soils, more animals and birds, greater biological diversity and cleaner air,” Sinclair said in a news release. “All these are critical to people’s health and quality of life.”

Illinois once held 14 million acres of trees, Sinclair said, but that number dropped to 3 million acres before intentional efforts 50 years ago began to reverse the decline. Today, the state has 5 million acres of trees.

Sinclair is working with Illinois 4-H members and the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts to increase that number through the 4-H Green Communities Tree Program. The program, supported by grant funds from the Illinois Forestry Development Council, focuses on action, education and conservation.

4-H members in 31 counties this spring will plant a grouping of 25 oak trees on public properties in their county. In Adams County, the program was made possible in collaboration with the Illinois Soil and Water conservation District, Quincy Park District, Adams County Soil and Water Conservation District and 4-H.

“It’s a great program,” Higley said. “I’m glad they took advantage of it.”