[PHOTOS] Pantera Elementary Hosts Arbor Day Celebration

Students hoped to plant the seeds of environmental awareness Friday morning during Diamond Bar's annual Arbor Day Celebration. 

The event kicked off with presentations from the Pantera Girl Scouts and messages from local officials and Pantera Elementary Principal Todd Riffell about the importance of conservation.

"It's important that we take care of our planet, right boys and girls?" Principal Riffell said. 

Riffell noted that caretaking today could impact the youngsters when they reach their Golden Years and gave some explanation to the catch phrase "." 

"When you hear the phrase 'going green,' it means plant lots of trees, use less of the Earth's resources, and recycle, recycle, recycle," Riffell said. 

Riffell noted that Pantera Elementary recycles plastic bottles and aluminum cans on campus.

Each grade, from Kindergarten to 6th grade, put on a performance related to the day's message of conservation and environmental awareness. 

Scott Gardner of the Los Angeles County Fire Department was also on hand to present students with small pine trees grown by the department's San Dimas unit for the students to plant at home. 

The effort tied in with the 5th-graders study of deforestation, Riffell said, and the main event of the day: planting five new trees in different locations around the campus, donated and pre-dug by West Coast Aborist.

Mayor Steve Tye gave students an idea of the value of the trees around the City, which now number 14,207 with Friday's addition, altogether worth around $43 million, Tye said.