GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The city of Grand Rapids' Parks Department recently hit a major milestone. They’ve successfully planted 10,000 trees.
Friends of Grand Rapids Parks say volunteers helped plant more than 1,200 trees this year, but the work isn’t done.
“We're just waiting out the winter,” Friends of Grand Rapids Parks volunteer Christine Lindeman said.
This time of the year isn’t exactly the ideal time for planting trees.
“I literally reached out to Friends of Grand Rapids Parks to say, 'Okay, when is ... the big tree planting in the spring?' Because we want to make sure that we are in town for that,” Lindeman added.
This volunteer is one of many who put more than 4,200 volunteer hours into making Grand Rapids greener this past year.
“I have an office job, so I like that. I get to, like, dig a hole and wrestle with the root ball,” Lindeman added.
In her time as a volunteer, Lindeman says she probably put around 100 trees into the ground since volunteering a decade ago.
“Now you've got this amazing tree that you can come back and visit and watch it grow,” Lindeman said.
Stacey Bare with Friends of Grand Rapids Parks explains outgoing Mayor Rosalynn Bliss played a big part in creating this greener future.
“[Her] greening initiative really helped galvanize the city around tree planting, and we're the organization that gets to put them in the ground with our amazing volunteers,” Friends Of Grand Rapids Parks Executive Director Stacey Bare said.
He adds the most amazing thing is the future they’re building to help grow this initiative.
“We're planting about 1,300 trees a year, so we're really picking up the pace,” Bare said.
He explains this is a commitment to the city’s future.
“I may not be able to appreciate the shade of this tree, but somebody else will,” Bare added.
The city is honoring Bliss’s mission of a greener Grand Rapids by working to establish a space here called Mayor’s Grove at Riverside Park.
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