Volunteers from the Altona Community Action Network teamed up with the town to help beautify what would normally be considered an eyesore.

ACAN spokesperson Jonah Langelotz says they've been looking for opportunities to get involved in planting trees in the area, but instead of starting a project of their own, they decided to assist the town with its tree-planting program.

"This spring there was an opportunity where the town had made plans to do some tree planting at the landfill and they were looking for some help to actually put some trees in the ground and so they kind 

of handed things off to us. We were able to organize a small volunteer crew and in one morning we were able to put 600 spruce trees in the ground."

Once they are bigger, the trees will eventually serve as a windbreak and buffer for the landfill, but should also improve the aesthetics of the landfill area.

Langelots says it was a real joy to work with the town on such a worthwhile endeavor and he hopes there will be similar projects that local volunteers can get involved with in the future.

"We would love to. For ACAN to do projects on our own is possible, but I think the real opportunity lies in collaborating and partnering with the town. The town can put money in place from the tax base for projects like this and ACAN can use the energy of community to actually do the physical work and get the trees in the ground. It's something that's satisfying for people, it's a need we can easily meet, and I think we can keep going forward and expand on that."

Langelots says trees provide so many benefits for a community and ACAN definitely wants to become involved in planting more of them in the future.