Green Bay students plant trees as Brown County highlights conservation efforts

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - Students from Aldo Leopold Elementary School in Green Bay joined Brown County leaders to celebrate Earth Day by planting trees along the Fox River Trail.

The event offered the county the opportunity to showcase its conservation efforts and encourage residents to do the same.

“When we looked around, we realized all these different people all represent different departments within Brown County. They all have some small impact in creating a better world for all of us,” says Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach.

One by one, Brown County department heads shared ways in which their departments are committed to the environment year-round, whether it be championing cover crops on farms, expanding community gardens, or installing a green roof as part of the Brown County STEM Innovation Center.

“A great day to come on our and vocalize Earth Day, it’s awesome to see the collaborative effort and be part of a government organization that really does celebrate Earth Day 365 days a year,” says Brown County Parks Director Matt Kriese.

And perhaps a silver lining from the pandemic is that more people have become closer to nature.

“I certainly think that this last year has gotten people to think about the environment around them more, they’re at home, they’ve got more time to spend thinking about different things in their neighborhood. I think there’s a real push and effort to look at the world as a whole because of the pandemic and see that we have to start working together more and more to deal with the issues that are out there,” says Mark Walter, Brown County Port & Resource Recovery Business Development Manager.

Which is why county leaders encourage all residents to adopt three lifestyle principles on a daily basis: Reduce, re-use and recycle.

“We really need people to think about what they’re using, what they’re acquiring and think about what happens to it after they’re done with it, what happens to the packaging that’s surrounding it, what’s happening to the food they’re eating and what are they doing with the excess food, are you making sure you’re buying just enough to feed your family and make the meals you need, can you donate it somewhere else if you have excess, all those things come into play,” says Walter.

The trees Aldo Leopold students planted are crab apple trees sponsored by the Packers “First Downs for Trees” program.

Their school’s namesake has been called the father of America’s ecology efforts. Leopold was a Wisconsin naturalist and conservationist who believed we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of the land.

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