Nearly 100 volunteers showed up today at Bucklin Park to celebrate the 140th Arbor Day. The group picked a fitting day to come together to add some much needed greenery in this Providence neighborhood. Doug Still, Director of the Providence Forestry Division, says "the park is in desperate need of more trees and shade, in the neighborhood there is 15 percent canopy cover...and the average for Providence is 23%."
One volunteer has helped plant over 120 trees over the last year. Doug Victor says, "it's a way to give back, and it's a way for people to reach out across different kinds of lines, corporate lines to community lines and vice versa, so that we can really build a city."
The new trees don't just increase the quality of life, they will aid in storm run-off, better air quality, and make a home for more wildlife. Bob McMahon, Director of the Providence Parks Department, also adds, "this is also a great recycling effort, the mulch that's being used around the trees is from the trees that came down last year and the evergreens which are these large spruce trees were recycled from Weybosset street."
This is the 26th straight year that Providence has been named a "Tree City USA" community by the Arbor Day Foundation. Twenty-nine trees were planted this morning.
