Backstory: How Meek School Grounds Became the Concordia Learning Landscapes Arboretum
Wondering about the history of the Concordia Learning Landscapes Arboretum? The Alliance High School school grounds, formerly Meek Elementary School, are a neighborhood favorite for the open space and playground. For the last fifteen years, the neighborhood Concordia Tree Team has created and maintained a tree library on the grounds as a resource for everyone.
Today, there are 27 genera of trees. [UPDATE: this listed 25 genera until April 19th 2024, when the Tree Team planted new trees!].
And a once shadeless expanse of grass and dandelions now has shade on hot sunny days, much to the relief of dogs and their owners who come to play at the school every day of the week.
Fifteen years ago….
Most of the grounds around the former Meek Elementary School are devoted to baseball and soccer. Those fields are large expanses of mowed grass with zero shade.
One rectangular grassy area west of the existing soccer field was too small for the regulation size of a soccer field. This is where the district had planted a number of trees it was required to plant after they had removed a large mature sycamore. But only two of those trees had survived after the district stopped watering.
Knowing the district was out of compliance with the agreed-upon replacement plan, the Concordia Tree Team (CTT) in 2010 told the district they would water and weed replacement trees provided they get to select the mix of trees. The district readily agreed.
A first draft district planting plan was modified by CTT member Jim Gersbach to better meet an educational theme. A dual theme was chosen. The first was to showcase a variety of species in one of the largest and most successful tree genera - the oaks. The second was to feature genera that have been reduced to only one or two relict species, including some that are becoming endangered by habitat loss.
The CTT worked with the district's landscape manager to mark the planting spaces so mowers could navigate the space. The first planting was done in 2010. Gersbach was able to interest Portland Parks and Recreation Urban Forestry (PPR UF) in providing most of the original batch of trees as part of their Learning Landscapes program. Friends of Trees also donated trees. Gersbach worked with the school's science teacher to arrange for her students to participate in the inaugural planting late in 2010. Concordia Tree Team members also helped plant the trees.
Not all oak trees have lobed leaves. This ringcup oak (Quercus glauca) from Japan has simple, unlobed leaves that are evergreen. Seven other oaks at Meek are also evergreen:
bambooleaf oak native to Korea, China, Japan, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam
canyon live oak native to Oregon and California
cork oak from southern Europe and North Africa
guavaleaf oak from China
interior live oak from California and the Mexican state of Baja California
island oak from southern California.
silverleaf oak from the SW USA and Mexico
Keeping up with the arboretum
Every year since, volunteers with the Team have watered the young trees during the summer months. They've also weeded and mulched the trees with mulch provided by the district. A second round of plantings were done in 2011. Eventually, a row of trees were added along the school's north fenceline.
On April 19, 2024, CTT members are replacing two damaged trees - a cork oak (Quercus suber) donated by PPR UF and a bambooleaf oak (Q. myrsinifolia) - and four new trees. Two of the new trees fit the Learning Landscape's theme. The first is a South American member of the oak-beech-chestnut family (Nothofagus obliqua), and the other is a Chinese ironwood (Parrotia subaequalis), one of only two species in the genus Parrotia. The Team will also plant with students on the east side of the school two lindens (Tilia henryana and T. tomentosa 'Sterling') to diversify the existing row of littleleaf lindens (T. cordata).
The new plantings will bring the number of species at the school close to four dozen - about four times what was there 20 years ago!
PICTURED BELOW LEFT: Cones of the umbrella pine (Sciadopitys verticillata). This slow-growing but long-lived conifer once grew in many places in the Northern Hemisphere but died out everywhere except Japan. It is not only the only species in its genus, but the only genus in its family, a perfect example of the arboretum's relict species.
PICTURED BELOW RIGHT: Trees at Meek stay green thanks to regular summer watering by Concordia Tree Team volunteers. This has resulted in faster growth compared to trees of the same species that don't receive summer water.
