Davey Tree Flipbooks

23 March/April 2020 | THE DAVEY BULLETIN It's not every day a project gets help from a team of high school football players to help plant trees. So, when donated hornbeam trees were delivered to Keystone High School in LaGrange, Ohio, to improve the school campus aesthetics, Mark Svozil, vice president and general manager, Commercial Landscape Services (CLS), was glad to see the their helping hands. Team member Jason Garber from the Wooster Nursery gave a lesson on proper planting. "The trees will look great lining the campus drive, and they will play an important role in improving the landscape. This is step one for the campus in their goal to enhance the overall look," said Svozil. "It takes a commitment from the school and the community to see this to succeed. They are off to a good start." A student football player from Keystone High School helps plant a hornbeam tree. Photo credit: Zachary Srnis, Morning Journal FOOTBALL PLAYERS PLANT TREES SAVING BABY BIRDS OF PREY Emilio Gomila Morejon, general foreman, Tampa Electric account, utilizes his climbing skills to rescue baby birds of prey in the Tampa, Florida, area through an amazing volunteer opportunity. Morejon volunteers as the sole climber with the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay, Inc., which protects raptors through rescue, rehabilitation and education. He helps place baby birds of prey back in their nests or creates new nesting platforms if nests are compromised during a weather event, are not secure in the tree or the tree isn't structurally sound. The Raptor Center regularly checks on bird of prey nests throughout the Tampa area to make sure the nests are safe and not at risk. If a nest is at risk, Morejon will climb the tree, remove the babies and fix the nest. While working on the nests, Morejon makes sure the parents are near and that the nest in fact has adults caring for the babies. If not, the babies are taken to the center where they are cared for, taught to hunt and are eventually released back into the wild. He also ensures that the new nesting platforms are visible to the parents as they fly by and can safely land at the nest. "It's amazing while you are up there," he said. "You have the parents behind you, watching you work and watching what you are doing with the babies. It's like they are saying, 'I know what you are doing. Thank you for saving my babies.' It's a beautiful experience." Above left: Emilio Gomila Morejon encourages others to do thorough inspections of trees before starting work because you never know what may call the tree home. Especially for owls, as they will make nests inside hollows in trees. Left: The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay, Inc., rescues hawks, eagles, owls, falcons, kites, osprey and vultures. Emilio Gomila Morejon assists the center with placing baby birds of prey back in their nests if they fall out in addition to building new nesting platforms. He will also install cameras around bald eagle nests to monitor eaglets and their parents. Last year, Morejon rescued roughly 15 hawk chicks and owlets.

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