Tuesday November 13, 2007
More than 1,000 trees, 500 of them downtown, will be planted throughout Louisville under a new initiative announced by Mayor Jerry Abramson today. The Community of Trees initiative includes multiple city agencies as well as private partners.
“Trees are vital to cities. Not only are they beautiful, but they also help lower air pollution, lower urban temperatures, and mitigate erosion and stormwater,” Abramson said. “It is in the city’s best interest to take good care of the trees we have, and to carefully choose the right trees for future planting.”
The Community of Trees project team includes Metro Parks, Public Works, Brightside, the University of Louisville, Jefferson County Public Schools, Liberty Green development partners and private arborists, among others. The team evaluated the city’s current tree canopy and developed a long-range planting plan that begins downtown and then spreads into the city. Private businesses and citizens donated $100,000 for the project.
Seven downtown schools will be among the first beneficiaries of the new trees. DuPont Manual High, Meyzeek Middle, Noe Middle, Englehard Elementary, Lincoln Elemen-tary, Shelby Elementary and Dawson Orman Preschool will receive a total of 220 trees during the first phase of the planting project. Members of Youth Build’s E-Corp, a program that provides job training to at-risk youth, will plant many of the trees with help from JCPS grounds crews.
“It’s been said that the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The next best time is right now,” Abramson said. “The Community of Trees initiative will benefit our city not just in the next few years, but throughout the next century.”
Zelenka Nursery donated 500 trees to be given away this fall to neighborhoods and non-profit groups. Similar groups may apply for trees through Brightside’s new “Treescape Grant Program”.
For more information on the Community of Trees (including maps of the planned plantings), go to www.louisvilleky.gov or call MetroCall at 311 or 574-5000.