Trees Atlanta and Volunteers Planted 300 trees in Dunwoody
Trees Atlanta and Volunteers Planted 300 trees in Dunwoody
On Saturday, September 28th, 2013, Trees Atlanta and 250 volunteers planted a whopping 300 trees in Dunwoody’s Brook Run Park! The weather was gorgeous as volunteers and staff split up into four teams to plant what is now the largest planting in a single morning in Trees Atlanta’s history.
Trees Atlanta was invited by the city of Dunwoody to replace trees that were removed during the installation of a new walking trail around Brook Run Park. The community group Friends of Brook Run Park expressed appreciation that Trees Atlanta was involved, saying that this non-profit would bring the expertise and community spirit needed to plant the trees well and educate volunteers.
September 28th was Dunwoody’s annual Service Day, which brought out many local volunteers, including Mike Davis, the Dunwoody mayor! Other volunteers came from colleges such as Georgia Tech, Emory, and Southern Poly Technical Institute, and Trees Atlanta’s database of dedicated volunteers.
A project this big requires a lot of coordination, and Trees Atlanta staff members Susan Pierce Cunningham and Linc Weis met with Parks and Recreation Manager Brent Walker frequently to sort out logistics. Details to determine included deciding upon exact planting locations, calling the utility company to make sure no underground utility lines would be disturbed by planting, ordering and delivering the trees, and recruiting volunteers. The tree holes were even pre-dug.
“Pre-digging the holes turned out to be really helpful, and definitely ensured maximum smoothness of the planting project,” said Susan. “We only had three hours to plant 300 trees, and without the pre-dug holes, so much of our time would’ve been spent digging.”
The trees were all native and some species included several species of oaks, red maples, sugar maples, serviceberries, dogwoods, lindens, and hornbeams.
Two species she’s particularly excited about include the paw paw, a fruit-bearing tree, as well as the bigleaf magnolias that they strategically planted next to some Devil’s Walkingstick trees. Susan said, “Devil’s Walkingstick trees have the biggest compound leaf of any tree in the Eastern U.S., and the bigleaf magnolia has the biggest single leaf, so it’ll be a really neat contrast as these trees grow alongside each other.”
Susan went on to praise the volunteers. “This project could not have gone so well without the skill and enthusiasm of our project leaders. We only had four staff members there, so we’ve got to thank Chris Liggett, Jim Abbot, Craig Sprinkle, Myrtle Lewin, and Alan Stewart for helping us arrange logistics, giving tree planting demonstrations, getting all questions answered, and generally helping to make this project such a wonderful experience.”
Project leaders received their assignments that morning, which showed them all the areas where they’d be working, the access points, the mulch piles, the water spigots, and the hydrants so we could fill water tanks and drive them around to water the trees. There was a lot of mulch in the park already from all the tree removals. Circle of life!
There were many standout volunteers. Special thanks to the eight guys who hauled mulch buckets all morning, for three hours straight, and to the volunteer who took over the watering process, working with four other volunteers to make sure each and every tree received water.
Trees Atlanta is going to go back and check on the trees by watering, staking, and correcting any other problems. The trees will be maintained for two years.
If you want to visit the trees, you will find them along the new walking trail, roadways, and in meadows near the community garden.
