St. Tammany Tree Bank Will Help Plant 30,000 Trees In 2019

St. Tammany parish is a great place to live and its popularity has shown through the booming housing market. One negative aspect of the growth in the parish is the decline in the beautiful trees the area is known for. St. Tammany parish is the home of oaks, pines and cypress that give the area a canopied greens-cape. St. Tammany parish government has created the Tree Bank program and Adopt-A-Pond program to help with this problem by preserving the tree canopy, enhancing the water quality improvements, increasing flood mitigation and creating Eco-corridors along with wildlife habitat in St. Tammany parish.

“Water quality, flood prevention and preservation of our natural resources, are top priorities in St. Tammany, and we are able to address them all, in varying degrees, through these programs — the Adopt-A-Pond Program and the Tree Bank. This is another example of forward-thinking ideas put into practice, with wide-ranging results,” said Pat Brister, St. Tammany Parish President. “We also have the benefit of teaching our young people about their own environment and how all of these elements work hand-in-hand to give us our wonderful, natural surroundings, and what they can do in the future to protect our community.”

Funding for the program is fueled by the parish Tree Bank. The Tree Bank is financed by fees that the developers incur when removing trees off land in St. Tammany. Agency partners which include NOAA SeaGrant Program, the LSU AgCenter Youth Wetlands Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Sunbelt Innovative Plastics, and are in the Adopt-A-Pond program, also help with monetary needs.

Along with the parish government, the St. Tammany School District has taken the initiative to help reach the goal of planting 30,000 new trees in the parish by year’s end. Boyet Junior High has already planted 325 trees at Meadowlake Pond in Slidell. The Adopt-A-Pond program will allow STEM students from St. Tammany high schools and junior high schools to plant trees along the banks of six ponds around St. Tammany. The school district plans to plant 2,300 trees this month alone.

“I’m excited that these community partnerships are allowing our students the opportunity to participate in hands-on science projects while also improving the environment of St. Tammany Parish,” said St. Tammany School System Superintendent Trey Folse. “These are real life lessons that students will be able to use far beyond the walls of their classrooms.”

Along with the 325 trees along the pond’s banks, 75 young Live Oaks have been planted along Oak Harbor Blvd. in Slidell. So far in 2019, over 400 trees of 13 species have been planted in the community.

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