Royal Oak Volunteers Plant
20 New Trees in Gunn-Dwyer Park
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Nov. 8, 2015)
Gunn-Dwyer Park in Royal Oak has 20 new trees thanks to ReLeaf Michigan and the DTE Foundation. ReLeaf works with cities to access where trees might be needed and to make it happen. Saturday the group did plantings in Royal Oak, West Bloomfield and Birmingham.
In Royal Oak they got the help of over 20 volunteers, many of whom were second grade boys. Wolf Pack 1604 took on the task as their first community service project of the school year.
Pack Leader Nick Bofferding said he plans on finding several projects for the boys, but that planting trees in the park was a good start. “We live in the community, and all enjoy the benefits of the community. It’s important to give back and be part of it,” Bofferding said. “Hopefully these boys will stay in Royal Oak and will get to see these trees grow.”
Royal Oak’s City Arborist John Lang was not only excited about the new trees, but also about the variety they were able to plant.
“In Royal Oak we have a lot of monocultures,” Lang said. “Across the street it’s all Normandy Maples. If something happens to Normandy Maples the economic impact can be devastating. We had one park where we had to take over 100 Ash trees out. Pests and disease tend to hit just one kind of tree. So if you have a nice mix of trees in an area, then if something happens it doesn’t hurt all the trees.”
Saturday’s planting was a beautiful mix of black gums, rubber trees, blue beech, Kentucky coffee, hybrid American elm, service berry and crab trees. “They’re all trees that can grow here, but that we don’t see every day,” Lang said.
Patrick DeRose of Mike’s Tree Surgeons in Troy was also one of the volunteers. “We do a lot of trimming and cutting trees down, so it’s nice to help put some in the ground,” he said. DeRose is a former Boy Scout himself, and said that the reward of giving back is something that sticks with you if you learn it early in life.
A similar sentiment was share by ReLeaf’s Steve Turner. Turner is a volunteer on the Board of ReLeaf and works for ArboCultural Services. “When I was five years old my mother gave me a garden and would let me plant whatever I wanted. It was a great way to learn. My grandfather has a garden too. So I guess it all fell into place.”
Turner explained that ReLeaf plantings are a collaborative effort, with DTE Foundation supplying the funding, ReLeaf experts working to find the right trees for the right locations, and cities providing needed dirt, volunteers and follow up care.
Learn more about ReLeaf Michigan at http://releafmichigan.blogspot.com/.