City of Marion offering free trees to residents this fall

The City of Marion is providing residents with free trees to plant in the right of way between their properties and the street as part of the city’s fall tree-planting program.

Registration for the biannual program is available on the city’s website and will run through Sunday, Sept. 10. Marion residents can register for up to three trees, which they would commit to plant, water and protect as they become established.

“We’ve limited to up to three trees every time … so that we’re keeping it within means,” Mike Cimprich, the Marion city arborist, said. “With the continuation of the program, people can re-register continuously, as long as they continue to have locations for trees to go that are suitable, but we wanted to make sure people weren’t getting carried away with how many trees they were signing up for.”

The three-gallon trees of varying species are provided by Monarch Research Project, a nonprofit that works to establish and maintain habitats for endangered pollinators in Iowa.

For each tree registration, the city will go out to inspect the property where the resident intends to put the trees to make sure there is suitable spacing, according to Cimprich.

“When the derecho came through we lost a large percentage of our community canopy,” Cimprich said.

The city started partnering with Monarch Research in 2021 to plant trees each spring and fall, but initially the trees were only available to city employees and council members. Last fall was the first time the trees became available to all city residents.

Initially residents were allowed to plant the trees anywhere on their property, but Cimprich said the city decided to require the trees be planted in the right of way so city maintenance can have long-term involvement with the health and development of the trees.

The program has focused specifically on small stock trees that are native to Iowa or are well-suited to grow in Iowa. The species available this fall include several species of oak trees, American elms, American plum trees and others.

“They’re lower maintenance than the larger stock trees are, so they’re fairly easy for any homeowner to care for in the first couple of years. We’ve definitely had some challenges with weather and heat and drought conditions this year — really the last three years, but this year has been the worst — but we’re seeing really good success rates with them still,” Cimprich said.

Cimprich said that even though there’s always an expected rate of loss with tree-planting programs, many of the trees planted so far have been thriving, and he’s excited to see how this program affects the landscape of Marion for years to come.

“The first couple cycles we did with just internal, organizational distribution, we had anywhere from 200 to 300 registrations, and so that could be up to three trees per registration,” Cimprich said. “The first cycle of the right of way program, open community wide for residents, I think was about 280. It fell this spring, but we're already on track with early registration counts this fall to exceed the number that we had this spring. Word-of-mouth is getting out.”

According to a news release from the city about the project, new trees can have long lasting effects in the community, not just by providing shade and improving air quality, but also because they reduce stormwater runoff, have a traffic-calming effect and can have a positive impact on human health and mental well-being.

“It’s going to be an exciting program 10 or 15 years down the road,” Cimprich said. “It’s really kind of a small thing that we offer, but it’s really going to have a big result down the road I think.”

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