Students help plant trees at refuge

RIDGEFIELD — In December, Ridgefield High School and South Ridge Elementary School students helped plant trees at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, which recently opened a new bridge. Before planting trees, students joined representatives from the refuge, Ridgefield City Council, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Western Federal Lands Highway Division, construction contractor Ceccanti, the Sevier family (original owners of the land), and others for a ceremony. They helped cut the ribbon and were the first to cross the bridge. Then they met at the Kiwa Trail, where Jackie Bergeron’s fourth-grade class researched the yellow-billed cuckoo. The tree planting would help restore the cuckoo’s preferred habitat. Bergeron’s class was joined by the officers from an environmental organization from Ridgefield High School, International Teens Upholding Nature Association, or iTuna. Students learned from park rangers how to plant trees then worked in teams to plant their own. The students got some close-up views of native wildlife as they worked. “This is a project that we’re going to do for years. This is the first class. In the spring, they’re going to make new cuttings that we’re going to grow. Then my next class will come and plant those. So the idea is to truly be a part of helping restore this habitat back to what it natively should have been,” Bergeron said in a news release.