BELLE FOURCHE—For 20 years, the Belle Fourche Middle School fifth grade class has celebrated Arbor Day by learning about trees and planting their own tree on the school grounds. The last Friday in April is Arbor Day.
The tradition of having students plant a tree each year started when Ann Anderson, fifth grade science teacher, started working at the Middle School. “I think trees are important, and it just was one of those things that I started when I first came here 20 years ago and it just continued to grow,” she explained. “Trees are so important for the environment and health and it’s part of the standards and the curriculum and the kids love it. They think this is pretty cool!”
Belle Fourche Mayor Randy Schmidt opened the program with a proclamation of Arbor Day. “I proclaim April 24, 2026, as the 154th anniversary of Arbor Day in the city of Belle Fourche,” he said. “And I further urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands.”
Following the official proclamation, Josh Larson, community forester with the State of South Dakota, educated the kids about the importance of trees. He discussed how we use trees for food and food products. “I do a lot of education about trees and importance in our lives and the benefits that they bring to us in our daily life,” he said. Then he asked the fifth graders what some of the benefits trees provide every day. The kids eagerly raised their hands and offered a variety of answers, from providing oxygen to making firewood to heat homes to giving homes for wildlife, soil stabilization and shade.
Larson quizzed the youth and handed out frisbees to the students who answered first with the right answer.
The program includes awarding essay competition and poster drawing contest winners. Melanie Williamson, representing the Butte County Conservation District, was on hand to award the winners a cash prize and give every student who entered the essay contest a packet of tree seeds along with instructions on how to grow their own tree. “I’m giving you these seeds today—to thank you for writing an essay, and we’re giving you headphones and in a nice little bag that has our conservation district symbol that you can use for trinkets and things,” said Williamson. “But I hope that you use the headphones to listen to other gardeners and master gardeners and how they can show you how to plant more seeds for your area.”
Each of the contest winners read her winning essay to the room full of classmates and parents. Receiving first place and $25 was Jadah Adamson, second place and $15 was Brekyn Montgomery and third place and $10 was Nove Ripley-Wall. Greta Abraham was the winner of the local Arbor Day Poster Contest and her poster was sent in to the state competition.
As a special treat to the winners of the essay and poster competition, they go outside and lead the tree planting experience with Larson. “What I get to do every year is I get to show both the students and their parents or any adults here the proper ways to plant a tree,” explained Larson. “Because believe it or not, there is a right way and many, many wrong ways to plant a tree—frequently trees get planted incorrectly!” He then led the four students on the proper way to plant the tree. He demonstrated how deep to plant it, how to make sure it doesn’t get root bound and how to cover it with soil.
The students are encouraged to return to the school in the future to see how the trees they helped plant are growing. “I take very great pride in caring for these trees all summer long every year, hoping that when the students who planted them graduate, they can come back and say, ‘That’s my tree, I planted that tree,’” shared Williamson. “Because it’s important, you don’t plant trees so that you can enjoy their shade, you plant trees so that your next generation can share the shade.”
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