Jane Winn of Berkshire Environmental Action Team speaks at Friday's Arbor Day ceremony in Pittsfield.

City Council President Peter Marchetti reads a council proclamation for Arbor Day with parks program manager James McGrath.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — This year's Arbor Day was marked at Kellogg Park, Pittsfield's newest open space.  

Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath, who led the Friday ceremony, pointed out that this site also contains the 3,000th tree planted during the Greening the Gateway Cities program. The trees line the side of the park. 

About 20 people gathered on the concrete letters of the literacy-inspired park to celebrate the woody organisms that give off oxygen needed to breathe, house animals, and shade people from the sun.

Berkshire Environmental Action Team Executive Director Jane Winn said people around the world are beginning to realize just how important trees are, and that includes having trees in the city.

"BEAT along with the city of Pittsfield and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation has been part of a big effort to plant more trees, as [McGrath] said, 3,000 more trees in the central areas of Pittsfield as part of the Greening the Gateway Cities program, about 80 percent of those trees were planted on private property in people's yards, with the rest in public housing areas, street trees, and city parks," she explained.

"According to the USDA, over 140 million acres of forests in the United States are located right in our cities and towns. Urban forests come in many different shapes and sizes, including urban parks, street trees, landscaped boulevards, gardens, river promenades or greenways, river corridors, wetlands, nature preserves, and working trees at former industrial sites, these urban forests and fisheries are dynamic ecosystems that provide critical benefits to people and wildlife."

Winn outlined the many benefits of forests that include air and water filtering, controlling stormwater, conserving energy, and providing wildlife habitat and shade.  

Beyond that, trees use a process called transpiration to cool the air. Transpiration is when trees' leaves take in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen and water vapor through the stomata.

For urban design, trees also add beauty, form, and structure while reducing noise and urban forests contribute to community revitalization and add economic value to communities, Winn added.

"We're thrilled to be here at Arbor Day again this year," she said. "We applaud the creation of this wonderful pocket park and we hope as we slowly get rid of all of the blight that GE left behind we can replace some of that with more parks and tree-lined streets."

McGrath outlined the history of Kellogg Park, which was named after the family who used to live there.

Mill Town Capital purchased the site four years ago because it was where the family home of Veronica and Kenneth Kellogg was located. They are grandparents of Mill Town's founder and Chairman David Mixer.

The climbable letters were made by Pittsfield-based concrete company Unistress with the labor and materials donated in memory of the Stone brothers, an employee's 6-year-old twin sons who died in a house fire in 2019.
 
Matchbox cars that belonged to Kasper and Sylas Stone are encased in the letter S with a message that reads "The future belongs to the curious. The ones who are not afraid to try it, explore it, poke at it and turn it inside out." 
 
There is also a community "book house" stocked with literature provided by Berkshire United Way in the park in remembrance of the boys.
 
"There's probably no other park in this city that packs so much meaning into so little a space, this park does in point one acres, what we hope all parks do for our community, allow space for kids and families to connect in the outdoors, to feel inspired by great design and to be rejuvenated through what is offered here," McGrath said.

"Our parks also memorialize what we hold most dear: Veterans Park begs us to remember our bravest, Park Square honors our storied agricultural past and this park memorializes two young boys who were taken too soon, but more importantly this space is a testament to so many of the values we hold dear as Pittsfielders, the education of our youth, the development and improvement of great parks and public spaces, and the greening of our streets to improve our neighborhoods and the urban environment."

City Council President Peter Marchetti delivered an Arbor Day Proclamation on behalf of the City Council and Mayor Linda Tyer. Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren and Councilor at Large Karen Kalinowsky were also in attendance.

"And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed for the planting of more than 1 million trees in Nebraska, Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world with 2022 symbolizing the 150th anniversary of the holiday, and whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change, by reducing the erosion of precious topsoil by wind and water, minimizing heating and cooling, heating and cooling costs, moderate the temperature, cleaning the air, producing life-giving oxygen and providing habitat for wildlife," the proclamation reads.

"Trees are a renewable resource providing us with paper wood for homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products and whereas trees beautify our community, and are a source of joy and spiritual renewal, the city of Pittsfield has been recognized as a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation."

It also urges citizens to support efforts to protect trees and woodlands for the well-being of the planet and for future generations.

"I want to see our parks full of kids and families once again playing and enjoying themselves after what felt like a long, long winter season," McGrath said. "And in this neighborhood, that means seeing lots of activity right here at Kellogg Park."

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