We must replant for future generations

Winter is a stark canvas. Against snow and gray skies, we cannot help but see the damage done to our trees and forests by the August 2020 derecho. The loss assaults us as we drive down streets empty of large, healthy trees or past woodlands reduced to piles of deadfall and the occasional standing oak. Our only hope is to mirror the resilience of those survivors. We must replant.

An estimated 670,000 trees were damaged or destroyed in Cedar Rapids under the onslaught of the derecho’s wind. The city went from 25 percent tree canopy to just 8 percent in a single hour. Houses that had been shaded were bared to the sun. Distant landmarks became visible on the horizon. One elderly resident wrote to Trees Forever that she no longer recognized her own neighborhood.

I was living elsewhere at the time of the derecho, but I traveled to Cedar Rapids soon after the storm. While I ached most for the families forced from their homes, I also was overwhelmed by the ruin done by nature to nature: city parks ramparted with broken limbs, streambeds choked by fallen trees. The destruction seemed impossible, insurmountable.

I should have foreseen that Cedar Rapids would respond with urgency. That is this city’s character. Within days of the derecho, city officials were determined to develop a comprehensive plan for replanting. The City Council approved $10 million over 10 years ($1 million annually) for the work. City Manager Jeff Pomeranz declared the vision, “The city is absolutely committed to doing our part. It’s going to take a lot of time. It’s going to take dollars. It’s going to take all of us working together.”

Trees Forever is honored to partner with the city’s ReLeaf Cedar Rapids, a $37 million effort to restore green to the Emerald City. We are one of many. Neighborhood groups have come together for plantings. Other nonprofits have handed out trees. Corporations are restoring their campus. And innumerable homeowners have taken shovel in hand to bring beauty back to their yards. “All of us” truly are involved.

Now, two and a half years into recovery with spring planting season whispering on the breeze, the City Council is reemphasizing commitment to ReLeaf Cedar Rapids by increasing the annual appropriation to $1.25 million. Thank you, Cedar Rapids, for making trees a priority.

A dedicated team of community leaders along with the city and Trees Forever, is raising private donations to add to public funds. More than $3.5 million has been contributed, ranging from a few dollars to hundreds of thousands. Every gift is meaningful. Your words of encouragement have kept us working toward our goal; each and every dollar adds up to more trees planted and watered. While we still have a long way to go to reach our fundraising goals, with your help we can get there!

Then there are the residents of Cedar Rapids who have stepped forward to do the hard work of planting trees and keeping them alive. The partnership has engaged hundreds of volunteers who collectively gave thousands of hours of their time. They came from everywhere and all walks of life. Trained TreeKeepers coached up first-time planters. Employee groups showed up wearing company T-shirts and ready grins. On the hottest of summer days, Growing Futures teens slogged water buckets along city streets, learning the realities of working life with each step.

While ReLeaf Cedar Rapids focuses heavily on public trees, far more trees were lost on private property. Thousands of people have participated in our large-scale tree adoptions, the next of which will be held in May. Many more are signing up for our new tree vouchers created in partnership with area nurseries. I am especially excited by a program called Neighborhood Tree Captains, which leverages the power of friendship and peer-to-peer connections to encourage tree planting. All of these initiatives are made possible by private donations. Thanks to city leaders, caring citizens and many partners for your commitment, vision and endurance.

I’ll close with a comment from Trees Forever Board Chair Lynn Manternach, “As a parent and grandparent, I think about the world we are leaving our children. They deserve beauty, trees and natural areas. What the derecho undid in minutes, we will restore for future generations.”

Kiley Miller is CEO of Trees Forever. kmiller@treesforever.org