New trees now dot the Sac and Fox Trail in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - Walking along the Sac and Fox Trail near Indian Creek in Cedar Rapids, some may notice a difference in the landscape these days.

Kate Hawkins did.

During a recent walk, she was thrilled to see scores of recently planted saplings, put in by the city as part of a reforestation effort following a $10 million sewer project that saw many of the former trees in the area wiped out - some by accident and some on purpose.

'They had to take all the trees out when there was the sewer project and I felt so bad for it. They destroyed it in a way,” said Hawkins. 'But one day I walked out there (and saw) all those trees. ... They rebuilt it.”

Todd Fagan, arborist for Cedar Rapids, said when the original trees were taken out, left in their place was prairie - and many perturbed users of the 7.1-mile crushed limestone trail that runs along Indian Creek and the Cedar River and is the oldest designated National Recreation Trail in Iowa.

In an effort to reforest the land, the Cedar Rapids City Council allocated roughly $478,000 to pay for 750 saplings - immature trees with slender trunks. Many of the initial plantings last summer were wiped out by the flood, but Fagan said officials went back to the drawing board and came up with a plan to plant larger saplings and purchase a two-year management plan with a Cedar Rapids landscaping company.

In September, many of the larger saplings were planted and the job was finished this spring.

The trees selected for the reforestation are hardwoods such as oaks, elms, hybrid elms, hickory and coffeetrees. Fagan said no more than 10 percent of one species was planted to protect against disease. Fencing also has been installed around each sapling to protect the young trees from deer and other wildlife.

Fagan said this type of project is rare.

'Because when you're doing projects in the city, you can do a one-for-one replanting, like along the city streets - you can take a tree down and put a tree back,” he said.

But the aim of the Sac and Fox Trail reforestation wasn't to match the area one-for-one, but rather be more critical in sapling selection and placement and how that might affect pollination and wildlife.

'It's not quite fully to the density it was, but it's meant to eventually be more savanna-like,” Fagan said, adding that with more butterflies, bees and other pollinators the health of the area will rapidly improve.

'It looks different, but the area is now better overall.”

Hawkins agrees.

'I'm so proud of what Cedar Rapids is doing and trying to make the earth natural again rather than just strip it,” she said. 'I'm just really proud of Cedar Rapids for its efforts to keep its nature in this world.”

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