Free Trees for Local Citizens | Environment

      The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC), Elmore County and the City of Wetumpka are encouraging citizens to join in this year’s Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign and Arbor Day ceremony. The City of Wetumpka and Wetumpka Pride will be holding Arbor Day and a plant potting project on February 21, 2013. Trees will be planted in honor of Ray Jones and Billy Skinner beginning at 11:00 a.m. at the Wetumpka Sports Complex. Following the ceremony, free tree seedlings will be given out at Gold Star Park beginning at 12:00 p.m. and continue until all the seedlings are distributed. Tree seedlings will also be distributed at a satellite location in Eclectic to service the storm damaged area. The location and time will be announced at a later date.

      Elmore County is one of the areas to receive seedlings in an effort to reforest the state’s communities damaged in the April 2011 tornados. According to AFC officials, 3000 seedlings will be given away in North Alabama this year in this second phase of the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign, a large-scale, multi-year initiative launched jointly in June of last year by the Alabama Forestry Commission and the Arbor Day Foundation. In an effort to restore the state’s urban tree canopy and the many environmental, economic, and social benefits those trees provide, the campaign will continue tree distribution into the fall and winter of each year to other communities that suffered destruction.

      Anyone can support the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign by making an online donation at arborday.org/Alabama. For every dollar in donations, the Arbor Day Foundation, in coordination with the Alabama Forestry Commission will deliver a tree for distribution to communities affected by last spring’s tornados. 

      The mission of the Alabama Forestry Commission is to protect and sustain Alabama’s forest resources using professionally applied stewardship principals and education, ensuring that the state’s forests contribute to abundant timber and wildlife, clean air and water, and a healthy economy. To learn more about the AFC, visit www.forestry.alabama.gov.

Information Source: Alabama Forestry Commission