A different kind of stewardship

Jacque Kochak-Auburn Villager Father Bill Skoneki (left) shows 6-year-old Ellis Royal how to plant a tree.

The trees just kept coming. White oaks, red oaks, water oaks, magnolias, red cedars, wax myrtles and crape myrtles, potted and pampered and fertilized for two years since construction began on the new St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church on North College.

"Yesterday, Jeff Thurmond and I showed up to set out the trees. We had just finished with a couple of hundred and thought we could go, when a pick-up truck showed up with 10 more red cedars," parishioner Scott Enebak said Saturday morning as volunteers started arriving at the 17.5 acre site to plant the saplings.

You can blame it on the foresters. Enebak is a forestry professor at Auburn University, and Thurmond works for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Neither one could stand to see so many trees destroyed when the bulldozers rolled in to build the 35,000-square-foot church.

The church includes a 600-seat church, a social hall, offices, classrooms and various other rooms used for church ministries. Cost of the property and new facility was some $12.5 million.

"I'm not sure where the idea first came from," Enebak said. "But my vision was, let's save some trees."

At first, he said, there was discussion of minimizing the building's footprint, saving stands of trees and expecting the developer to work around the trees.

"But then we thought, why not have parishioners take the trees home and take care of them?" Enebak said. "It's not that unusual to ask people to come in and take trees. What is unusual is asking them to bring the trees back."

On Saturday, parishioners Joe Mueller and Steve Sforzini were digging holes in front of the church to plant two small crape myrtles. At St. Michael's old location on Gay Street, two large crape myrtles outside the front door were favorite climbing trees for children bursting with energy as they escaped Sunday mass.

Thurmond also intended to plant about a hundred apple trees to the west of the property's detention pond, down a small hill and on the edge of the property.

Enebak said the kids from CYO--the Catholic Youth Organization--would probably tend the orchard, which would take eight to 10 years to produce.

"When they come along, maybe we'll have a fall apple picking and donate to the Food Bank," said Father Bill Skoneki, parish pastor.

Enebak seconded that idea, but had a fallback plan as well.

"There are lots of deer in the area," he said. "If nothing else, we'll feed the wildlife."

Skoneki was among those who nurtured several trees for two years. He started with three, but one magnolia died. A red cedar is now six feet tall.

"It was going to be virtually impossible to save any trees in the middle of the property, where they were going to remove all the dirt," he said. "But we could save some small trees. I initially thought we might use them as part of the main landscaping, but instead we are adding to the required landscaping. What we have already meets all city requirements."

For some, the tree planting was a family affair. The Royal family took a tiny cedar home to care for, and came back Saturday morning to plant three trees sitting in pots around the property.

"Daddy, I found a good spot!" cried 6-year-old Ellis Royal, and the digging began.