LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) – Today was Super Service Saturday, where an ambitious project was undertaken by an East Texas arboretum and a host of volunteers, one they hope will be a source of natural beauty and joy for generations to come.
The Longview Arboretum held Super Service Saturday to tackle a job no one had any experience in: constructing an allée.
“This is kind of a gutsy thing to try and do, and it’s not easy, and no one here has done it before. I have never planted an allée before myself, so it’s kind of a rare opportunity there,” said Arboretum Director Stephen Chamblee.
An “allée” is a symmetrical line of parallel trees separated by open meadow. The arboretum allée includes over a dozen large Shumard oak trees.
This project was a hefty task seeing that the trees weigh around 2,800 pounds each and must all be aligned perfectly.
“Trees are not just important to the environment, but they are important to people,” said incoming Longview Arboretum President Heather Hall.
Joined by volunteers from various community organizations, the effort was time consuming and not without risk.
“We did some heavy machinery work to help dig the holes,” said Rotrary Club of Longview member David Stanley. “We wanted to get as many service organizations in Longview together in order to put together a single project for the community.”
“We found that our tractor would carry it but not lift it,” Chamblee said. “We have a ‘Skytrak’ which will be here.”
Once in place, over time, they hope the allée will become a landmark for Longview.
Volunteers from organizations such as Downtown Rotary, Greggton Rotary, AMBUCS, and Zonta Club participated.
The trees were donated by arboretum supporters at the annual garden party.
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Longview Arboretum holds Super Service Saturday tree planting project – KLTV
