On Saturday, The Shade Brigade gathered volunteers to plant over 100 trees in the Essex Park neighborhood in Valparaiso. 11 different species of trees were planted by neighborhood residents and various community groups from Valparaiso.
Along with residents of the neighborhood, some of the groups of volunteers to plant trees came from The Boys and Girls Club of Porter County, NIPSCO’s N.E.A.T team, ArborMetrics Solutions, and volunteers from the community and surrounding schools. Everyone gathered to not only plant these trees, but also learn about proper tree planting and care from certified arborists.
Head of this event with The Shade Brigade, Ann Brugos, spoke on this event and the importance of planting trees throughout the community.
“Today we are replacing trees that needed to be taken out. Essex Park had mostly ash trees that were attacked by emerald ash borer. A few were saved, but many of them just needed to be replaced,” said Brugos
With the support from Indiana Department of Natural Resources Community and Urban Forestry Division, community members learned with hands-on training about tree identification and conservation information. They were able to educate the volunteers involved on the importance of replenishing trees throughout the city.
“I have a heart for trees, I guess. I really wanted to see the city have an opportunity for residents to get involved with the trees. The more we get the residents involved with taking care of the street trees, the better success those trees are going to have at thriving. Teaching them the correct way to plant, mulch, and how they should be pruned is important so we can have street trees for generations,” said Brugos
Over 50 volunteers gathered in the morning to complete the tree planting. A student from Valparaiso High School, Rachel Hall, shared her affiliation and how much she enjoys helping out the environment through volunteer work.
“We are coming from the Environmental Science class at Valparaiso High School. They provide a lot of opportunities to volunteer to help the environment. It’s great to help out because something like this is going to last forever because the trees are going to keep on growing. It’s something that the people get to look out their windows and enjoy every day,” said Hall
With the fuel of donations from Starbucks and Culver’s of Valparaiso, members prepared to break off into groups according to tree species and set off throughout the neighborhood to complete the 100+ trees.
The Shade Brigade provided hands on experience for community members to help re-populate Essex Park’s street trees. In the spirit of Arbor Day this year, organizations were able to celebrate with the planting of new generations of trees.