TREES NORTHBROOK

As with everything else, our state’s stay at home order has affected our effort to plant one hundred trees this year. However, we haven’t changed our goal, we have changed the direction of our efforts!
            Originally, we reached out to local schools, houses of worship and other public entities to ask them to join us in planting trees. This work became more difficult as these sites shut down or minimized their meetings. We continue to work with the three sites we had partnered with before the world changed with the pandemic. We hope to have trees planted at St. Giles Episcopal Church and the Islamic Cultural Center this moth. We also hope to continue our work with the Cove School when their distancing measures allow it.
            As it became difficult for our Master Gardener to safely visit sites, we used the social website Next Door and our newsletter to reach out to the Northbrook Community and asked YOU to plant trees. We also posted a tree planting pledge that readers could use to show their commitment to planting.
           The Village’s Parkway Planting program has delivered and planted 218 trees this spring. Thank you to everyone who has ordered a tree through the Village. And thank you to everyone who has planted a tree on their private property. 
           You want to plant a tree?…When it re-opens the program, the Midwest Water Reclamation District gives away free oak trees (18” tall) at its various sites. Both spring and fall are appropriate planting times for trees so no one has missed the planting window for this year. We continue to ask everyone who has space in their yard to think about planting one tree this year.
            Go Green Northbrook is researching and applying for grants from local agencies that would provide free trees to be planted in public spaces. As this work progresses, we will let the community know.
            This pandemic reminds us that we are interdependent. What we all do affects all of us. If everyone uses this window in time to help our shared environment become healthier, we have created something good out of something difficult and dangerous.  -Clare Poupard
Take our Pledge to Plant a Tree