Arbor Day At Casitas Center

Vista 4th Graders Celebrate Arbor Day with SDG&E

New trees have been planted in John Landes Park located next door to Casita Center in Vista, as part of a special Arbor Day celebration that our tree experts hosted for 4th graders at the elementary school.

 

Many of us celebrated Arbor Day earlier this year, but for more than 100 4th graders at Casitas the celebration was held today.

 

Eager to learn more about trees and why they are essential to our ecosystem, students rolled up their sleeves to help plant 25 trees that their classmates can enjoy for years to come. During a special assembly and tree planting ceremony, students heard from certified arborist about the importance of planting the right tree in the right place to avoid safety hazards, such as trees touching power lines.

 

Why We are Passionate About Trees

Trees play an integral role in beautifying our environment, cleaning up the air we breathe, and combating climate change by soaking up carbon emissions.

 

Our team of certified arborists understand the value of trees and take a lot of pride in how we manage the inventory of trees located near our utility infrastructure. They take great care to trim trees to help reduce the risk of trees causing outages, fire and other impacts to our power grid. Our vegetation management team has earned the Arbor Day Foundation’s distinction as a Tree Line USA® Utility for the last 16 years.

 

Tree Planting Tips

Feeling inspired by the Casita Center students to plant your own trees? Please keep these safety tips in mind:

 

  • As trees grow, their branches and roots spread out so avoid planting them too close to overhead power lines or over underground electric lines, natural gas pipes or cables.
  • Take the time to properly select a tree that is not only aesthetically pleasing but is safe to plant in your area.
  • Don't plant shrubs directly in front of SDG&E equipment and maintain the grade (or slope) of the soil so water drains away from equipment.
  • Call 8-1-1 before you dig. Underground Service Alert can be reached for free by dialing 8-1-1, two days before the start of digging. By calling 8-1-1 contractors and customers will receive visual markings for all electric lines, natural gas pipes and cables in the area to help avoid damaging any infrastructure while digging.

 

To learn more about our Vegetation Management team and tree safety, click here.