By Gary Lloyd
PINSON — About 1,500 tree seedlings were given away at Turkey Creek Nature Preserve in Pinson on Saturday as part of the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign, sponsored by the Alabama Forestry Commission and the Arbor Day Foundation.
The remaining 500 tree seedlings the preserve received will be used for reforestation projects, said Preserve Manager Charles Yeager.
The seedlings available included flowering dogwood, shumard oak, eastern redbud, blackgum and bald cypress.
“We’re encouraging people to put them in the ground now so they’re ready to go when spring hits,” Yeager said.
Yeager and other volunteers sorted seedlings with paper bags and labeled them for people to easily determine which ones they wanted.
“This is an excellent program for helping to encourage folks to get out and make their community a little bit greener,” Yeager said. “Trees provide so many different services for the community as far as fresh air, they help stabilize soil and they just help make our community look nicer. This is a service that really helps everybody in the community.”
The event is part of a statewide effort to provide seedlings to communities affected by tornadoes in 2011 and 2012.
As part of the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign, a similar tree giveaway will be held Wednesday at the City of Clay Public Works at 9 a.m., and another will be held Saturday at 8 a.m. at Argo City Hall.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.