Honor Students Measure Canopies In Cemetery [AUDIO]

Honor students from Natrona County High School measured trees in Casper's Highland Cemetery on Monday. The event started when National Honor Society member Kimee Harmon wanted to do something to recognize Arbor Day and went to Jolene Martinez with the city of Casper.

The city happened to have a project that fit with the theme, and it would even provide some academic rigor for honor students. Measure the circumference and canopy of trees.

Jim Gerhart, Parks Department crew chief, said measuring the trees was important to get a more precise idea of the growth rate for trees in our area, which can be strenuous on trees.

Mr. Jim Gerhart:

"We're going to be able to use our data here today to be able to plan new parks by knowing how big these trees can get. Tree canopy is a driving force in all urban forestry these days, so if we plan a new park and we decide that in 15 years we want to have 30 percent of that park covered in tree canopy, then we'll need to know how many trees we need to plant and what kinds."

City Council Member Kimberly Holloway was at the tree measuring as a couple dozen students divided into groups and went around the cemetery to measure specific trees.

Beth Andress, of Keep Casper Beautiful, said the cemetery's 1,300 trees will go into the city's database, and this was the finishing pass of gathering those measurements.

Ms. Beth Andress:

"We had an eagle Scout do his eagle scout project and he gathered a group of people and they came and they did a measurement. And then we had a group from Minnesota that was on a pay-it-forward tour and they did a big huge section and now this is our last area."

Miss Harmon, the Honor Society student who organized the event and who did not hear the comments made by Jim Gerhart, explains why the data are important.

Miss Kimee Harmon:

"The Wyoming trees don't grow the same as trees in other places in the nation and so on our results we can say, oh, a cottonwood is supposed to have a canopy of, say, 50 feet, but in Wyoming they only have a canopy of 30, so you would know when planting in the future how they compare."

Monday's tree measuring was the first of three days of events the city has planned running up to Arbor Day on Friday.