Southeast Iowa Sierra Club plants tree in Fairfield to honor Earth Day

Members of the Southeast Iowa Sierra Club planted a tree in Howard Park in Fairfield Thursday to mark Earth Day, celebrated every year on April 22.

The tree is a pin oak and could be among the last new trees planted in the park. Horticulturist Steven Taylor said the park has good tree cover now, and the new tree was planted in one of the few barren spots in the park’s northeast corner.

Sierra Club members were joined by Fairfield Mayor Connie Boyer and council member Michael Halley, who helped dig the hole and give the pin oak tree its first drink of water in its new home.

Boyer said it’s a nice coincidence she was helping to plant a tree on April 22, because her family plants a tree every year on that day in honor of her mother-in-law Mildred Boyer, who died in 2007.

“The addition of this tree will be good for the park,” Boyer said. “This is such a nice park with the new playground equipment. It makes you want to be a kid again.”

Taylor said the cage that was put on the young pin oak will likely remain on it for five years, until its bark is strong enough that it can survive being chewed on by deer. He said the tree came from a plant nursery in northern Missouri that specializes in native plants.