Motivated by the challenge to plant a tree that represents every member of Club 1256 by Earth Day on April 22, a team of Rotarians, headed by Project Manager Warren Salinger; President Ed Shockley; Treasurer Len LaFlesch; and the entire club membership worked to bring RI President Ian Riseley’s challenge to reality.
 
Riseley believes that environmental protection is something essential to Rotary’s goal of sustainable service, stating, “I believe the greater result will be a Rotary that recognizes our responsibility not only to the people on our planet, but to the planet itself.”
 
The team immediately reached out to club member and Apache Junction City Manager Bryant Powell. Interested in the challenge, Powell directed Parks and Recreation Director Liz Langenback to take charge for the city. Langenback was elated that a service club such as ours would volunteer to do something like this for the City of Apache Junction. With this coordinated effort between the City and Rotary, the completion of the project was completed in a timely way.
 
The largest portion of the tree plantings took place within the median of Royal Palm Road where a neighborhood project was already occurring to vegetate and beautify the vacant and desolate median of the roadway.
 
A second project receiving attention was replacement of several trees at the Little League baseball field complex. This facility is owned and operated by the City and, over the years, has experienced the loss of several mature shade trees. By replanting shade trees there will be a major impact to both the aesthetic appeal and practical needs of the facility.
 
Apache Junction/Gold Canyon is located 40 miles east of Phoenix in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, at the base of the Superstition Mountains. Apache Junction is a community of 40,000 residents. The planting of 40 trees in Apache Junction has effected positive changes in the environment and the trees selected for the project are native to the area, thus assuring rapid growth.
 
Superstition Mountain Rotary Club is part of Rotary International, a 110-year-old organization that bridges cultures and connectes continents to champion peace, fight illiteracy and poverty, promote clean water and sanitation, and fight disease. Superstition Mountain Rotary Club was chartered in 1961, serving the community for 56 years.
 
The club meets every Wednesday from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Gold Canyon Golf Resort (Sunset Room), 6100 Kings Ranch Road, Gold Canyon. Lunch is available at $10 per person.
 
For more information contact Harvey Clark, director and program chair, at harvey.clarksuperrotary@gmail.com or leave a message at 203.841.7666