A big day for Transformation Trails

About 50-60 Warwick residents, including the outgoing town supervisor, gathered on the morning of Saturday, November 4, to plant 27 trees in what will be the Warwick Arboretum. The Arboretum is a major part of Transformation Trails, the “park within a park” in Wickham Woodlands Park.

Of the 27 trees, seven had arrived with heavy root balls wrapped in burlap, and these had been planted the day before by the town of Warwick Dept. of Public Works, a key element of the support that the town has provided for this project. For the remaining 20 “bare-roots” tree, Karen Emmerich, Connor Smith and other members of the Warwick Shade Tree Commission gave a how-to, “demo” planting, so that everyone would know the best way to plant their trees.

After this helpful introduction to tree-planting, the volunteers took over, grabbing a tree and their shovels, and fanning out across the area that will one day be filled with hundreds of beautiful, tall trees. Included in the trees planted were red oak, pignut hickory, golden raintree, paperbark maple, yellowwood, and flamethrower redbud. This colorful selection of trees was made possible by a major donation from Sustainable Warwick as well as a grant from the NYS Urban Forestry Council, and that grant was given in recognition of Warwick’s having been a designated Tree City for more than five years.

In addition to this Arboretum, Transformation Trails will also include two large “pollinator meadows” sponsored by Sustainable Warwick, a sculpture garden to be established by local sculptor Amy Lewis Sweetman, a variety of walking paths, including one with exercise stations donated by the Hudson Sports Complex, and an education center for school programs.

The idea behind Transformation Trails is to recognize and commemorate the “transformation” of what was, until 2011, the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility, into an asset for the entire town of Warwick. In addition to the 600 acres of the park itself, there are the job-producing, tax-paying, low-traffic businesses that have been established in the commercially zoned 150 acres.

This November planting is hoped to be the start of an annual tradition that will grow to many more than 27 trees being planted at a time as the Arboretum fills out. In the words of one volunteer, Betsy Bowes, who planted a tree with her husband, daughter and grandson, “We were doing something that felt really good, good for Warwick, good for the environment ... and it was fun! A good day.”