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&ldquo;Whenever the teachers would give everybody a little tree, I&rsquo;d ask the other kids if they were really going to plant theirs,&rdquo; Zarqua Ansari said, remembering ecology projects from her childhood in Mountain Top. &ldquo;If they weren&rsquo;t I&rsquo;d take them and plant them.&rdquo;
				Now Ansari is a student at Wilkes University, preparing for a career in medicine and still a fan of those oxygen-providing, climate-cooling trees. She was among several of Professor Ken Klemow&rsquo;s biology students who were happy on Monday afternoon to help plant some trees in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
				&ldquo;Wilkes has gone above and beyond to make our campus beautiful for the students,&rdquo; said Lexi Gaetano, another biology major from Mountain Top, explaining she wanted other people to experience similar beauty on West Northampton Street, where she helped plant four Miyabei &ldquo;State Street&rdquo; Maple tree.
				The planting, which was a project of the Diamond City Partnership, began Monday afternoon and continued Tuesday morning.
				DCP executive director Larry Newman was delighted to watch &mdash; and pitch in with a shovel &mdash; as city workers, aided by volunteers from both Wilkes University and King&rsquo;s College, planted 20 trees in all.
				Funded by a &ldquo;Bare Root Tree Grant&rdquo; from the Pennsylvania Urban and Community Forestry Council, the trees include 11 Freeman &ldquo;Autumn Blaze&rdquo; Maples, planted on North Franklin and West Union streets near the Kirby Health Center and five &ldquo;Skyline&rdquo; Honey Locust trees, planted in front of the Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Union buildings along with the four Miyabei State Street Maples.
				&ldquo;We are continually working to improve Downtown Wilkes-Barre&rsquo;s pedestrian experience. Downtown has traditionally had a robust shade tree canopy, but during the past few years, many trees have fallen victim to disease and decline,&rdquo; Newman said, specifically mentioning that several large ash trees had been attacked by an insect, the emerald ash borer.
				&ldquo;This marks the start of a multi-year effort to replace what&rsquo;s been lost,&rdquo; Newman said, adding that as the trees mature they will provide benefits people can easily see such as the &ldquo;curb appeal&rdquo; factor as well as benefits people don&rsquo;t always think about, such as absorbing stormwater.
				&ldquo;Unfortunately, replacing urban street trees isn&rsquo;t an inexpensive or simple process: stumps must be removed, utilities and pavers must be navigated, and soil must be replenished,&rdquo; Newman wrote in a news release. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why collaboration is so critical &#8211; and we&rsquo;re grateful to everyone who&rsquo;s helped to make this planting possible.
				&ldquo;We simply could not do this without partners like Mayor (George) Brown, Dave Lewis, and Wilkes-Barre DPW, or Rob Franchelli and Franchelli Enterprises,&rdquo; Newman said. &ldquo;I also want to thank Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the Kirby Health Center, the Union Building, and Wilkes University for their generous cooperation; Kelly Gibbons of King&rsquo;s College, Ken Klemow of Wilkes University, and Sam Troy of the Wilkes-Barre Shade Tree Commission for organizing volunteers; and Penn State Urban Forester Vinnie Cotrone for all of his guidance.&rdquo;

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Downtown W-B gets 20 new trees