A new 50-tree arboretum planted at Veterans Park

Veterans Park is turning into a small forest, thanks to a team of volunteers rallied together by Powell High School senior Dallin North for his Eagle Scout project. The volunteers worked with the city to plant a 50-tree arboretum.

Arboretums have at least 50 trees, with two or more trees of each species planted. On Saturday, 22 trees were planted at the park and the remaining 28 will be planted throughout the week, said Del Barton, Powell Parks Superintendent and City Arborist.

Once completed, the arboretum will feature 16 different species of trees with labels for each — all planted in a layout to allow for a walking path to be built later.

“I’ve done projects like this with other Eagle Scouts,” North said. “There aren’t many trees at the park, and when they grow up they will look a lot better.”

The arboretum has been in the works for quite a while and North got involved a couple of months ago, Barton said. Volunteers from the community dug in alongside local master gardeners and some members of the Powell Tree Board.

This $20,000 project was funded through a grant for urban forestry from the Wyoming Department of Forestry. It is one of only six arboretums funded by the program in the state.

Powell was chosen for the grant because of its climate and elevation, Barton said. The arboretum’s trees will be monitored over the next 10 years as part of a research project to see how each species performs in Powell’s climate.

“The biggest hold up was getting the trees here,” Barton said.

Two trees of the following species were planted Saturday: Kentucky coffeetree, accolade flowering cherry, bur oak, swamp white oak, northern catalpa, Canada red chokecherry, American hophornbeam, Turkish filbert, heritage oak, Black Hills spruce and Black Hills ponderosa pine.