Nature lovers are invited to the San Pedro Ponds in Morgan Hill
next Saturday to help plant more than 120 oaks and other California
native trees.
Staff Report
Nature lovers are invited to the San Pedro Ponds in Morgan Hill next Saturday to help plant more than 120 oaks and other California native trees.
The community event is being sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the San Pedro Ponds Trail Volunteers. The goal is to help enhance the scenery at the percolation ponds located at the intersection of Hill Road and San Pedro Avenue.
“The event will be a very simple, low-key planting that will beautify the popular nature trail around the ponds,” said Stu Nuttall, president of SPPTV. “Not only that, it’s re-establishing the fauna and the flora before farming came to the South Valley. We’re trying to achieve a look of what the valley looked like before settlers came.”
The event will be held rain or shine starting at 9am March 18. Bottled water and snacks will be provided. Participants are asked to wear work clothes they don’t mind getting dirty. Also, participants are encouraged to bring a shovel.
Families with kids are especially invited to participate, as the group wants youngsters to appreciate the wonders of nature, said Irene Mort, an SPPTV volunteer.
“This will be a really fun event for families,” she said. “Maybe years from now, when the trees have grown bigger, someone will be able to point to them and say, ‘I planted that tree when I was just a kid.'”
Many of the oaks were provided by Wanda Puder, a Morgan Hill resident who grew the trees from acorns.
Aside from helping keep South Valley’s groundwater basin filled for local well-users, the ponds are home to several species of birds. During the spring, wildflowers grow in the meadows surrounding the ponds.
Water district superintendents Rosemary Kamei and Sig Sanchez, and vegetation management unit official Judy Ingols were instrumental in helping SPPTV organize the March 18th planting event, Nuttall said. The two officials plan to be at the event.
The water district workers have already dug holes, so participants involved in the planting event will only need to place the trees in the soil. Many of the non-oak trees, such as buckeye, redbud, ceanothus, California rose, and western aster, were provided by the water district.
For more information, contact SPPTV volunteers Irene and Ken Mort at (408) 776-2933.
