A mighty Oak ripped from its roots after last night’s windstorm, came tumbling down just outside Central middle school, but the district says they have plans to recycle the tree and turn it into nature-based play spaces.
Crews from SD61 and Bartlett Tree Experts were on site this morning chopping the tree into smaller pieces in order to be removed from the property, where they will then be transferred to the district’s facilities yard and preserved.
Mark Walsh of SD61 says the materials and installation of nature-based playgrounds can be costly so having a tree fall naturally helps mitigate that and sends a positive message to students about environmentally-friendly practices.
The wind knocked down a lovely old oak at Central Middle last night. The school is fine. The District is going to make the tree available to our schools for nature based play spaces. @sd61schools pic.twitter.com/OYLLAOmi2X
— Mark Walsh (@markvwalsh) March 1, 2018
Walsh says similar play spaces have already been installed at Monterey middle school and at Margaret Jenkins elementary where a tree from the school’s grounds now serves as a playground on the opposite side of the school yard.
While it is still unclear what time the tree came down, Walsh says no one was injured, nor was there any property damage reported.
