“The best time to plant trees is 25 years ago,” one of our reforestation volunteers reminded us. “The second best time is today!” Their recent efforts, however, were not second-best, but whole-hearted and productive.
Having started at 1:00 p.m. Sunday Nov. 1st, the digging teams, water teams, mulch teams, species coordination, and planting teams were all humming along like clockwork as dusk set in. By the end of the day, the Friends volunteers had planted 60 trees along the trail between Fosters and Loveland.
Rick Forrester nurtured the almost 200 seedlings purchased by the Friends in his backyard garden all last spring and summer. When dormancy set in this fall, the potted trees were ready to be moved to their new homes, replacing invasive honeysuckle and ash trees fallen to the Emerald Ash Borer. Trees were staged along the trail using a trailer, their locations carefully selected after researching conditions needed for each species. The trees are flagged in orange to identify them for continued watering and TLC. Mulch was provided by Ohio State Parks.
“We had countless positive comments by the trail users on the volunteer work everyone was doing,” says Rick. “It was nice to see people appreciating the hard work, and many users had no idea about all the volunteer work FLMSP does throughout the year.”
Two days later, four of the volunteers were on the trail again, planting an additional 30 trees. While working, they explained the reforestation program to trail users and received much positive feedback. Soon all the seedlings from Rick Forrester’s backyard will be enjoying their new home along the trail. A big "Thank You" to all the volunteers who participated in this project. Their efforts will make a beautiful difference for generations to come.
Even darkness didn't stop the planting team.
