Free trees for your street

MEDIA ADVISORY

Contact: Peter McGraw, Public Information Officer (206) 615-0950
peter.mcgraw@seattle.gov

Free Street Trees for Seattle Neighborhoods!

What: Department of Neighborhoods Neighborhood Matching Fund - Tree Fund

When: Applications by groups of neighbors are due on Friday, August 10th 2007


This fall, the Department of Neighborhoods will be providing free trees for planting on residential streets in Seattle neighborhoods. Applications are accepted from groups of neighbors and are due on Friday, August 10, 2007. This is the Tree Fund’s 11th year, having planted 18,000 trees, and investing over $650,000 in making Seattle a greener city.

The Tree Fund is a program of the Neighborhood Matching Fund and the Seattle Department of Transportation. In exchange for free trees to be delivered by the City this fall, groups of neighbors attend a City sponsored training session and then organize their neighbors to plant the trees. The goal is to beautify Seattle streets and to support a clean and green environment.

Seattle’s tree cover has shrunk from 40 percent of the city’s land area in 1972 to just 18 percent today, a decline that threatens nature’s ability to help manage storm water, reduce erosion, absorb climate-disrupting gases and clean the air. You can make a difference!

Who should apply? Groups of five households or more on a street or block are eligible to apply.

How many trees will be provided? Groups of households on a street or block can request a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 40 trees per project.

How can you obtain an application? Contact the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods,
(206) 684-0464 or visit our web site at www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/treefund.htm


(See July 1991 and May/June 1992 "Miller Times" newsletters for details and pictures of our previous treeplanting extravaganzas, which were great community-building exercises. The tree in the pictures was, I believe, part of one of those efforts. )