From left; Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust Executive Director Jane Calvin, Lowell Vice Mayor Paul Ratha Yem, UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen and UMass Lowell Grounds Operations Manager Kevin Block, surrounded by members of the UMass Lowell grounds crew and Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation workers. (Photo by Brooke Coupal for UMass Lowell)

To celebrate Earth Week, UMass Lowell spent the week planting 21 trees along Wilder Street, at the heart of the school’s South Campus. The saplings were donated to the university by the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust.

On Wednesday, April 23, university and city leaders planted a sugar maple tree outside O’Leary Library. “Digging in” to celebrate the occasion were Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust Executive Director Jane Calvin, Lowell Vice Mayor Paul Ratha Yem, UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen and UMass Lowell Grounds Operations Manager Kevin Block. Joining them were members of UML”s grounds crew and workers from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

More trees are being planted today, Arbor Day itself. Many are located in a vacant lot on Wilder Street that has become the UMass Lowell Food Forest.

The forest, which is the brainchild of UMass Lowell mechanical engineering doctoral candidate Alana Smith, includes cherry and pawpaw trees, among others.

UMass Lowell is a certified arboretum through ArbNet and a designated Tree Campus through the Arbor Day Foundation. There are more than 1,700 trees across the university’s North, South and East campuses.