A local effort to make Henry County a little “greener” recently received a big financial boost.
The Duke Energy Foundation awarded a nearly $10,000 grant to Healthy Communities of Henry County to help fund a tree-planting project for area parks.
A total of 93 new trees were planted in November as follows: Two in Sulphur Springs’ Allen Park, seven in Mt. Summit Park, five in Mooreland’s town park, five in Murphey Park, 12 in Lowe Park, 12 in Osborne Park, 10 in Hospital Heights Park, four in North Main Street Park, and 22 in Baker Park, all in New Castle. Also, the second phase of Wilbur Wright Trail received 14 new trees.
“The local governments have committed to caring for the newly planted trees for the long term,” said Jeff Ray, trails coordinator for the Healthy Communities of Henry County project. “For 17 years, Healthy Communities has been planting and advocating for trees and the impact they have for local citizens.”
Ray coordinated this recent tree planting effort. Those assisting him include Dave Barker, Dan Denney, New Castle Mayor Greg York, Kip Jones, Terry Matney, Randy Smith, Bruce McCall, Richard Williams and Duane Matthews.
“It has been a great partnership with Duke and all the parks people to get 93 new trees planted,” Ray said. “The parks people really appreciated receiving these trees.”
All the towns involved and the Wilbur Wright Trail are in the Duke service area.
Ray said the recent plantings help offset the emerald ash borer’s killing of ash trees in parks throughout Henry County. He noted the insects’ impact has been severe and pointed out there were no trees in Hospital Heights Park and now there are 10.
“We have received overwhelming thanks from many people,” Ray said. “The New Castle Parks Board and city officials were very appreciative for the planting of 65 trees. The Mooreland town park has recently installed new playground equipment and having five new trees will make a difference. The folks in Sulphur Springs have done a fine job of planting trees in Allen Park since the early 1970s.”
The trees were purchased from Whitetail Tree Farm near Springport and Bluegrass Wholesale Nursery in Anderson.
“They are beautiful and large trees that will quickly shade our parks,” Ray said. “The trees we planted include white pine, white oak, red oak, bur oak, swamp white oak, serviceberry, redbud, red maple, shagbark hickory and tulip trees. The complete project cost was $11,130.50 with Duke Energy Foundation supplying $9,975 and Healthy Communities of Henry County providing a match of $1,155.50. The City of New Castle helped pick up the hardwood trees with trucks and trailers.”
Ray described this project as a community effort with a community and environmental impact that will last for years to come.
“Having a tree replanting program in place in Henry County allows good things to happen, and having volunteers to jump at a chance to help our parks will last for generations,” he added.