PHOTOS: Eagle Valley Middle School students traded their classroom seats for the outdoors last week—digging, planting and learning firsthand what it takes to help a forest recover after wildfire. Members of the school’s Green Biz Kids club joined the Sugar Pine Foundation on Friday to help restore the Davis Burn Area in Washoe Valley. With shovels in hand, students planted native Jeffrey and Ponderosa pines, species known for their resilience and importance to northern Nevada’s ecosystem. Foundation staff guided the group through every step of the process, from placing trees deep into the soil to making sure each one was firmly packed and ready to grow. Some students even gave their trees names, pep talks and songs—a personal sendoff to their new home on the hillside.
Students from Eagle Valley’s Career Foundations in Information Technology class also joined the effort, documenting the restoration through photos that will be shared with the Sugar Pine Foundation for future educational materials. Their shots captured both the burn-scarred landscape and the slow but hopeful work of rebuilding it. This tree-planting trip is just the latest in a growing lineup of hands-on sustainability projects led by Green Biz Kids. The club launched in 2024 as part of the school’s Sustainability Action Plan and has since grown into a popular program connecting students with real-world environmental action. It also serves as a continuation of the sustainability work many of these students began at Empire Elementary School.
