Friday, September 6, 2002
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Friday, September 6, 2002 |
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Students will choose county tree By JOHN
THOMPSON
Coweta County will soon have an "official" tree. During a Coweta County Commission meeting last month, the commission heard a report from the Greenspace Committee about selecting an official tree for the county. The tree will be selected by elementary school students in the county. Students will pick from a yellow poplar, a water oak and a sawtooth oak. Students in the third, fourth and fifth grade will vote this fall during field trips to the Georgia Youth and Science Technology Center in Shenandoah. Students in kindergarten through second grade will vote in their classrooms because their field trips are no scheduled to the center until later in the year. Officials at the science center will compile the results when voting ends Nov. 15 and announce the results in early December. In deciding which tree to select, students will receive an abundance of information about each tree and the importance of greenspace in the community. Each school that participates in the program will receive a tree from the Georgia Forestry Commission or the Greenspace Citizen Advisory Committee. In December, the Greenspace Citizen Advisory Committee will ask each school to name the type of tree that is desired. Students can choose the winning tree or maybe one that did not win but was the favorite of the individual school. The choice is up to each school. During the month of February 2003, the Greenspace Citizen Advisory Committee and the Georgia Forestry Commission will schedule tree-planting ceremonies for participating schools located outside of municipal jurisdictions. Commission Vernon "Mutt" Hunter applauded the program, but had one question. "Why wasn't the white oak selected? It's one of my favorite trees," he said. Greenspace officials said the committee tried to make their selections on trees that were found in great abundance in the county.
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