'The planting of trees...'

St. Mary Soil and Water Conservation District Secretary Andrea Dumesnil and her crew of volunteers are at it again.
Fifty trees, donated by the Apache Corp., have been planted or donated for adoption around Franklin within the last couple of weeks, with just a few more to go into the ground once the rain lets up—that’s the work Dumesnil and her cohorts in conjunction with the Franklin Bicentennial Committee have been endeavored in.
“We want to do it throughout the parish,” Dumesnil said, “along (La.) 182 specifically, and where landowners permit.”
Dumesnil and the conservation district have been making use of the Apache Tree Grant Program for years now, and just last year were dressing the Adilene Stretch off of La. 182, with young live oak trees.
“But it can’t be just anywhere,” she said. “We can’t just plant wherever we want.
“We have to get permission and find out whether or not utilities allow it.”
Last week, Dumesnil, USDA Program Technician Juanita Clements, Chad Boutte, Steven Mora, and others were planting over 30 oaks around Caffery Curve, as well as a few trees across from the Fairfax House.
And the crew also checks back with their previous plantings, for maintenance.
“It’s a work in progress,” Dumesnil nodded. “We are always out there. We fertilize, we trim, we re-stake. Often, the stakes are knocked down during the harvest, so we go back out and stand them back up.”
Whatever the case, Dumesnil calls the planting of the trees, “a process,” saying that if a tree falls or dies, it is replaced, always with an eye toward the future.
However, with man-hours at a premium, Dumesnil, Clements and company have had to pick and choose the premier times to work based on equipment availability, support availability, and weather conditions.
They are down a couple of crew members since last year, and must be realistic about what they can expect to get done with dwindling numbers, and when.
Setbacks notwithstanding, they have planted 250 trees now, and intend to keep driving forward with the program indefinitely.
Dumesnil and Clements touted this year’s trees from Apache Corp. as the best quality they’ve seen so far, and are excited to see what next year’s offering will hold, if they get the grant.
And then returning to the matter of maintenance, Dumesnil said of Clements, “Juanita passes the trees every day on her way to her house. So, she sees them. And almost on a daily basis she gives me a report, ‘You know there’s one tree that’s leaning,’ or ‘We need to spray some Roundup,’ or ‘Hey, it’s time to fertilize.’”
The project was set to plant the rest of their trees on Thursday, but got rained out.
It is not clear when they will be able to secure the equipment to proceed with the planting moving forward, but they are in need of volunteers when the time comes.
If you are interested in volunteering, call the St. Mary Soil and Water Conservation District at 337-828-1461, Ext 3.