They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. They also say old traditions die hard. But at what point does an annual event become a tradition? Let’s say 21 years, as that seems to fit the idiom.
Therefore, the Pearrygin Lake State Park tree planting ceremony held at the end of the year with the graduating fifth-graders at Methow Valley Elementary can rightly be crowned a tradition. For 21 years running (minus 2020), park rangers have worked in conjunction with the fifth-grade teachers to create a standing legacy. This year’s fifth-graders planted two lovely maples in the campground last Wednesday to commemorate the end of their elementary years and offer a lasting gift to the park.
The tree planting event began in 2002 as a cooperative program between the Arbor Day Foundation and the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The original program included in-classroom based educational programming provided by park rangers along with a poster contest, followed by the tree planting ceremony in the park. Today, the planting persists while the other elements have fallen aside.
Mariah McWalter, daughter of former Pearrygin Lake State Park Ranger David McWalter, watering an autumn blaze maple with a park volunteer at age 3, and 14 years later visiting the tree.
The poster contest was a National Arbor Day Foundation competition that awarded kids’ artist depictions of trees in the environment. The contest ran from 2002-2010. Each student would learn about the important benefits of trees in our environment and capture that in art. Former fifth-grade teacher Jennifer Duguay recalls, “the poster contests were really fun, and sometimes one of our students would go on to win at the state level, which was always exciting.”
Retired Park Manager Rick Lewis looks back fondly on the program, crediting Ranger David McWalter for its inception. Lewis noted that part of the goal is to instill a respect in young people for trees in our built environment, “incorporating them as stakeholders instead of vandals.” McWalter also cherished this annual event during his tenure in the park. He’d make awards for the poster contestants and recalled two state winners during his 10 years at Pearrygin.
This year’s fifth-grade class planted a maple tree in the Pearrygin Lake State Park campground with park staff.
McWalter considers the Methow his adopted home, having grown up a military kid and moved around all the time. He started the program as an energetic young ranger and wanted to find a way to get connected to the community. Perhaps a little overly ambitious the first year, he attempted to plant 30 threes. That proved to be a few too many shovels in the hands of 11-year-olds, so he lowered the goal to a couple trees per year and the program has been a grand success story.
David can now be found as an interpretive ranger at Sun Lakes/Dry Falls in Coulee City. He still visits the Methow Valley often with his three children and visits the park’s trees to see how they’ve grown, heart-warmed the tradition continues. “It’s a Jonnie Appleseed moment when you come back years later and see them,” he said. He photo-documents the growth of the trees along with his kid’s’ own development periodically.
Jennifer Duguay agreed, “I just love that they are still doing the tree planting. If you look around the park, it’s amazing so many of those trees were planted by our fifth-graders!”
