11 years after the historic wildfire in Black Forest, Colorado Springs middle school students want to help it regrow one tree at a time.
"Every little bit makes a difference," Colorado forester Eric Gehkre said.
Students in Academy District 20 started a project at the beginning of the school year to plant more trees in the Black Forest burn scar.
With the help of Colorado forestry, students recently planted 20 trees at Academy District 20's School In The Woods — a task many students said means a lot to them.
''Seeing all of the dead trees and thinking like how that fire like devastated this forest, it's really cool to help rebuild it," eighth-grade student Emma Turnbow said
With as much devastation as Black Forest saw, Gehrke said it can be hard for nature to regrow on its own.
"These areas are tough to get going again, there's no seed source close by so those trees are providing that source for the future trees," Gehrke said.
Through this project, about 15 students grew passionate about the environment. Some dug deeper into a career in forestry.
"I would love to be able to do something like this," Turnbow said.
"We're just really pleased to see that when we give kids some voice and some freedom and a little bit of space, they can do amazing things," an academic support teacher, Jody Cameron, said.
