Branching out
Marble Falls Middle School student London Grounds unloads a dormant crepe myrtle tree this week at the campus. The Lower Colorado River Authority donated 20 trees to the school, which is undergoing a major renovation. District officials said the trees will help beautify the grounds.
MARBLE FALLS — The Marble Falls Middle School campus got a little greener this week thanks to the Lower Colorado River Authority.
The LCRA dropped off 20 trees at the school to help with landscaping following a multimillion-dollar renovation project that left much of the grounds bare.
Marble Falls Independent School District voters approved a $62.3 million bond package in November 2006 that included about $15 million for renovations at the middle school. Construction is under way at the campus, but district officials said they are excited about the tree donation because it will improve the aesthetics of the grounds.
“We can’t thank the LCRA enough for donating the trees,” Principal John Schumacher said. “Those trees are definitely something we can use. They are really going to help our campus.”
Mike Christy of the LCRA conservation services brought the trees Tuesday.
“As part of our forestry program, we donated trees to communities, schools and nonprofit organizations throughout our service region,” he said. “The only stipulation is that they be planted in an area accessible or visible to the public.”
The middle school has several possible locations for the trees.
The trees are provided through the Apache Foundation, Christy said. The foundation is a philanthropic arm of the Apache Corp., an independent gas and oil company. Since 2006, the foundation has provided almost 300,000 trees to be planted in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Wyoming.
Foundation officials said the ultimate goal is to plant 1 million trees.
With the help of several students, Christy unloaded four different species of trees — bur oak, Monterey oak, Texas red bud and crepe myrtle.
“Usually we try to give away three or four different species to promote bio-diversity,” he said.
The two oak species are members of the white oak family, which has greater resistance to oak-wilt disease than do live oak trees, Christy said.
“But they’ll do extremely well in this area and climate,” he said.
When they are in bloom, the crepe myrtle and Texas red bud will also offer a nice splash of color to the campus, educators said.
daniel@thepicayune.com
Photo by Daniel Clifton