"TREE"MENDOUS RECIPE

---

INGREDIENTS:	1 Large helping of Dedicated Museum Volunteers
	1 Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund Grant Award
	1 City of Poquoson support
	1 Barry Tignor "Dreamscapes" landscape contract
	4 Sections of Virginia Tech Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE):
	VCE York/Poquoson Master Gardeners
	VCE York/ Poquoson Tree Stewards
	Dr. Laurie J. Fox, Ph.D. Virginia Tech Agricultural Research & Extension Center (AREC)
	Mr. Ed Bradley, Horticulturalist and Urban Forest Trail Blazer
	83 Trees
DIRECTIONS:	Mix well. Plant along Museum Marsh Walk. Water. Enjoy now and for years to come!

From the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund Grant award in spring 2013 to planting in November 2013, the Marsh Walk Tree Trail now established on the Museum Campus has been a fortuitous confluence of partnerships and dedicated volunteers.

In keeping with its mission to preserve and beautify the Museum Campus, the Museum applied for funds to establish a tree lined trail to the adjoining preserved marshlands. About the time the Museum received the grant money, the VCE York/Poquoson Master Gardeners Tree Steward Class of 2013 needed a community project to complete their class requirements. Since the City of Poquoson supports York/ Poquoson VCE and the Museum has a partnership with VCE York/Poquoson Master Gardeners, the Tree Stewards were able to collaborate with the Museum and provide advice on Treescaping.

The Tree Stewards, with the assistance of Dr. Laurie J. Fox whose areas of research and expertise are Bayscaping, Water Quality and Sustainable Landscapes, presented a list of suggested trees, cost analysis, and site mapping to the Museum Board in September 2013. With some adjustments the plan was approved, the contract awarded to "Dreamscapes", and the trees planted by the end of November. All VCE services provided are at no cost to the Museum.

With the trees planted, attention turned to Tree Identification and another partnership. Ed Bradley, horticulturist, "Urban Forest Trailblazer" volunteer and author of Hampton Roads Urban Forest Tree Trails enthusiastically endorses the Museum Marsh Walk as a Hampton Roads Urban Forest Tree Trail ("short, easily accessible, designed to introduce folks to trees they might see in their own yards"). Bradley and his Trailblazer Team do the research and install identification signs which are customized to the site. All work is volunteer ("a labor of love"), the only cost to the Museum is sign printing and posts, and projected completion is early 2014. The Museum Trail will be one of 11 Tree Trails in Hampton Roads and 1 of only 2 on the Peninsula.

It has been said that "The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now." Come walk the Marsh Trail, enjoy the newly planted trees and contemplate how they'll look when another generation walks under them twenty years from now.

Related Links:

York/Poquoson Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE)
Horticultural Resources/ Master Gardeners Projects & Programs/ 4-H Programs/ VCE email updates
TEL: 757.890.4940
http://www.yorkcounty.gov/Home/VirginiaCooperativeExtension.aspx

---

Hampton Roads VCE Agricultural Research and Extension Center (AREC):
http://www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/hampton-roads/index.html

---

Contact and Information about Dr. Fox:
http://www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/hampton-roads/people/fox/fox-bio.html

---

Article about Ed Bradley in the Virginian Pilot:
"Spreading His Love of Trees One Trail at a Time"
http://hamptonroads.com/2013/10/spreading-his-love-trees-one-trail-time

---