While our Fall Grant Winners are prepping for their projects, our Spring Grant Winners are finishing up their projects. We are so happy with the outcomes of all their hard work. These projects planted around 464 trees in the Spring Season! Now that’s what I call going green! Below are updates of their project from their final report.
Cincinnati Country Day School added 10 native trees that to their Early Childhood Center (ECC) play-yard. The tree species are Redbuds, River Birch, Pawpaw, White Oak, Red Maples, Tulip Poplar and Black Gum. We were so excited to hear that the students are already enjoying the blooms of the pawpaw tree! The Upper School Environmental Club students applied for our grant and have taken initiative to lead tree plantings on campus. The Lower School Green Team, a 13 person team led by the Outdoor Program teacher, plans to further their project by applying the National Wildlife Federation to establish their new ECC play-yard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat in hope that the signage will continue to education their population and reinforce their teachings of the interconnections between plants and local food webs.
Delhi Townships Parks began the process of planting 17 trees around their lake area to prevent further erosion of the lake and to enhance the beauty of the park for its patrons. The local high school students from Mother of Mercy volunteered to plant trees and obtained service credit hours they needed for graduation while learning about planting and tree care. They planted Sycamores, Bur Oaks, Red Oaks, Service Berry, tulips, Red Buds and Sugar Maple trees.
Imago works hard to preserve their 16 acre nature preserve which is 3 miles from downtown Cincinnati and is free and open to the public. Using our grant and the help of some hard working volunteers they targeted an area near their entrance to become a demonstration for visitors to see and learn about the habitat restoration process. They planted 50 different native shrubs including Redbud, Staghorn Sumac, Elderberry, Dogwood and other species. The trees that remained after the planting were placed in a nursery for fall plantings on other habitat restoration plots on their preserve.
The Mount Airy Trail Crew is on their second year of their project. They added new seedlings to their growing trees purchased from the grant last year. They planted trees in previously planted sites and also along the E trail off Area 21 in the Park for anyone who wants to visit and see these trees. They planted 187 trees that included Red Oak, Flowering White Dogwood, Shagbark Hickory, Sugar Maple, American Beech, American Basswood, Bur Oak, Pawpaw, Yellow-Poplar, and White Oak. The project began with honeysuckle removals to clear the area. While it rained on their planting day, the volunteers that did show up were very dedicated. They reported high survival rates for most of the species with exception of the Beech and White Dogwood.
The Three Valley Conservation Trust completed their project on Ruder Preserve, a 14 acre riparian woodland that had become degraded due to invasive species. The land is located adjacent to Miami University Campus and is across the street from a community park owned and maintained by the City of Oxford. To prepare for the planting they cleared around 4 acres of honeysuckle and garlic mustard. Trees were purchased and donated for the project. They were able to plant over 200 trees (>30 species native to this area) in the land that they cleared. The trees are guarded by staked fencing to reduce destruction by grazing deer. During each of their planting events they had presentations to education volunteers on what the reforestation efforts with around 150 volunteers attending one or more of their clearing and planting events.
If you would like to support more projects like this, please consider donating to our Tree Fund. With these donations, we can help communities plant more trees, educate via social media and speaking events and network with communities to determine their needs.