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School Yard Shade Program The School Yard Shade Program is a pilot study created by the GA Forestry Commission's Sustainable Community Forest Program (GFC) to demonstrate how tree placement can ameliorate the negative effects of ultraviolet light and high temperatures on a school landscape. The GFC has approved using a Clarke County school as the second statewide pilot site for the new program, and the Community Tree Council chose to do the planting at Gaines Elementary School in cooperation with a number of partner agencies from Athens. (ACC Dept. of Human and Economic Development and Keep Athens Clarke Co. Beautiful) A professional designer created a landscape plan with input from a team composed of a Gaines Elementary School administrator, a School District staff member and teachers. The plan addresses future needs of the school landscape and how canopy and understory trees can be incorporated to shade student/teacher/staff use areas and the buildings. Large trees were commercially installed and smaller trees and other landscaping was installed by volunteers from the school and the general community at both the Martin Luther King Day of Service in January and an Arbor Day planting in February.
Teachers will measure schoolyard temperatures with the students six times throughout the year during the 3-year study. This data will be used by the Community Tree Council and the GA Forestry Commission in its progress assessments of the program. For further information on the program please contact Maureen O'Brien, the project coordinator or on 706-254-8685. |
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