Bengalsfan04
Registered: October 2010
Posts: 1
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Apprentice Ecologist Initiative
Nature, a word that makes you stop and think about the forests, animals, woods and most popular, the freshness of air when it comes to mind. The word nature is used across the world by many people in many different ways. What is really amazing is that this six letter word defines the whole world entirely.
In Texas, where I happen to live, nature is thought of cowboys and big plains with mountains here and there, well just a little information, nature in Texas is far more than that! Arlington is the city where I grew up and currently still live in and it is right in between Dallas and Fort Worth. Here in Arlington we have a little bit of everything, from the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium to the Texas Rangers Stadium and they just happen to be right next to each other. One great thing about Arlington is that they have over 60 parks with great outdoor activities at each one. I happen to live next to one and I really wanted to be a part of it and the only thing I could think of was to ask. So I decided to ask the City of Arlington if I could plant a tree at this one particular park, Jake Langston Park, and without even thinking twice the man said “you sure can!” This park isn’t the biggest but it was the perfect little park to contribute some of my time so that I could add a tree to nature.
Jake Langston Park has a small parking lot for about 10 cars and it has a pretty nice sized jungle gym for kids. What really makes this a cool park, is the fact that there is a creek that runs right next to it and another great thing are the trees, the park is surrounded by tall trees. The day after I went to the City of Arlington I headed over to Home Depot to buy a small tree to plant and watch grow. I had picked out a desert willow which Shows pink flowers through spring and summer and is extremely drought-tolerant, which is a great thing for a tree to have in Texas. So the very next day I went to Jake Langston park with a pair of gloves, a shovel and a jug of water for both me and the tree. I started off digging a hole behind the playground so that when you pull in to the lot in a couple of years the tree will look elegant coming from behind the playground. I dug the hole deep enough so that the root ball was about three to four inches below the surface. Since we live in Texas I went ahead and watered the tree instantly to moisten the soil a little bit, then finished off the jug myself because of the heat that day. I took a couple of steps back and took another look at it and a smile happened to come to my face, because I know that I am apart of the city of Arlington and Jake Langston Park.
I think it is really important to keep that are manicured well is because children love to go to parks and so do adults to just get away sometimes. Some people even like to read in parks and the last thing people want to see is a park that is nasty, torn up, not mowed, a lot weeds, and broken playground equipment. So it is very important to keep all parks looking at there best because it is a place to get away and play! The benefit my project had in my opinion was the fact that I added a different variety of tree to this area and park which made it unique. My project has helped me realize that you don’t have to do something big to make a difference in your community; all it takes is a tree! Also this project made me look forward to becoming an architect to help make my future community better!
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