Wouldn’t it be nice if your street looked like the picture to the right?
Well, it can! The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is giving away trees for free as a way to beautify your neighborhood (and help the environment). Here’s how it works, from their press release:
Groups of neighbors from at least five households living on a street or block can request from 10 to 40 trees per project. In addition, every participating household can have a fruit tree for their own yard. Information on how to organize your neighborhood, the selections of trees, as well as the application form, can be found at www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/treefund.htm. Deadline for applications is August 16.
This is the 15th year that Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is providing free trees through the Neighborhood Matching Fund’s Tree Fund program. Through the Fund, Seattle residents have planted more than 20,000 trees and built stronger community connections along the way.
In 1972, Seattle’s land area had a tree cover of 40 percent. Now, that cover has dropped to 22 percent. This decline threatens nature’s ability to help manage storm water, reduce erosion, absorb climate-disrupting gases, improve public health and clean the air. The goal of the Tree Fund program is to increase the percentage back to 30 percent, build community, and promote a clean and green environment for Seattle’s streets.
For questions or additional information, contact Judy Brown, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, at 206.684.0714.
In addition, for residents who live in specific neighborhoods within southwest and southeast Seattle, Seattle reLeaf is providing free trees through the City’s 2010 Trees for Neighborhoods program. To learn more, visit www.seattle.gov/trees/treesforneighborhoods.
Wallingsylvania!
This is a great program and really beautifies the neighborhood. But… if you do think about doing this in front of your home, PLEASE note that the sorry suckers down the street with the storm drains in front of their homes have to clean up all those leaves that get washed down and clog thing up and creates flooding. I hope people take advantage of this great opportunity to beautify our neighborhood, but also take on the responsibility of maintaining that beauty.
Steve
And, oh — grumpy me! Once you have the trees, you have to water them occasionally! The city does supply a Tree-gator, which could make this process much easier, but if you don’t put water in it, the tree dies.
I love it that the city is willing to pay for these trees, but it makes me crazy that at a time when they are furloughing staff and closing libraries, they’re still giving trees to people who have never indicated any willingness to take care of them!
If our streets looked like the pic, where would people walk?
I have to chime in not as a grumpy tree-lover, but as a tree care and storm drain cleaning volunteer. It would make sense to have all recipients of free city-provided trees be required to be Adopt-A-Drain and/or Adopt-A-Street volunteers to keep those drains and sidewalks clean. And anyone who receives a fruit tree should be required to become a member of CityFruit to learn how to care for the trees. Getting the tree planted is just the first step.