Since planting eight trees at Dartmouth Middle School last fall, the Tree Committee made it a mission to gather a group of volunteers to care for them in their early stages of growth.

Tree Committee Chair Ann Parsons said, “They badly need water on a consistent basis for as long as two to three years.”

This led to the quick launching of the committee’s Adopt-a-Tree Program — the first of its kind for the group, according to Parsons.

Now, the program has eight volunteers, and even a few substitutes, who go out twice a week to replenish the tree bags and care for the trees.

Parsons said the hope for the future is to expand the program to residents who might be interested in “adopting” a tree at a small price for their property that they would then care for. 

She highlighted how other towns have already implemented similar programs, such as Brookline.

“Brookline has an incredible Adopt-a-Tree Program where the city gives something like 300 to 400 trees away free every year,” Parsons said. 

However, she said, “We are going to start more modestly.”

Next fall, the Tree Committee plans to request “a permanent bottom line in the budget” for the program “to either give away or sell at a very reasonable price.”