So, What’s the Greenwich Tree Conservancy Done for You Lately?

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Submitted by the Greenwich Tree Conservancy
So,what’s the Greenwich Tree Conservancy done for you lately?
Lots more than you might think in 2019.

First and foremost, the Greenwich Tree Conservancy (GTC) with the assistance of the Town Tree Department, planted over 500 trees this year. A record number since the Conservancy’s inception in 2007. These plantings added to the thousands of carefully selected trees already planted.

Tree plantings in Greenwich are the first order of business for the Conservancy but certainly not the only. GTC regularly testifies for the protection of existing healthy town trees. Recent testimony addressed the unnecessary cutting of healthy trees by Ever source and random cutting by developers. Additionally, at a July Board of Education hearing to extend the playing fields at Hamilton Avenue School, an alternative to losing mature trees was found.
Included in GTC’s mission is the education of residents on the importance of a healthy town forest. In 2019 they invited renowned tree expert and field researcher Peter Wohlleben, author of “The Hidden Life of Trees”, to speak at the Greenwich Library to a packed house of almost 400 people. The Conservancy encourages residents to get outside and enjoy their parks through regular guided tree walks. This past fall GTC partnered with The Historical Society for a Putnam Cemetery walk and Town Tree Warden Greg Kramer along with GBC Horticulture Director Lisa Beebe, led a walk in Binney Park to learn about the many recent new plantings.

Treasured Trees, a new program for the Conservancy, invites residents to nominate a treasured tree on their property. A tree can be nominated for its special history, memory, unique story, or perhaps its size or shape. Nameplates were installed on each honored tree and a framed photograph of the nameplate installation was given to each family at an October reception.

In November the Conservancy, in partnership with the Greenwich Land Trust, harvested chestnuts at a chestnut tree planting it contributed to back in 2014. This planting is part of the American Chestnut Foundation’s effort to restore the lost American Chestnut Tree.

Good things happened this past year for our town’s urban forest. For more info and offerings for 2020, visit www.greenwichtreeconservancy.org.