One Million Trees Central Iowa is an initiative focused on planting, protecting, and advocating for policy to reach the goal of increasing the tree canopy in Polk County and the surrounding nine counties by one million trees.
Trees play a crucial role in the health, economies, and wellbeing of communities. They sequester carbon and create oxygen, control runoff to mitigate flooding, cool cities and reduce energy consumption, increase safety, improve mental health, and increase property values.
In its native state, Iowa’s tree canopy coverage sat around 20%. Today it is down to 4%.
The last decade has been particularly hard on the trees of Iowa. Pest infestations such as the emerald ash borer have wiped out millions of woodland and urban ash trees. The August 2020 Derecho destroyed more than 2 million trees in Iowa in a single afternoon. Additionally, the Des Moines Register estimates that 114 million trees were downed for agriculture and land development purposes between 2010 and 2015.
In 2022, a group of environmentally-minded individuals came together and decided to challenge Central Iowa to plant and preserve one million trees over the following ten-year period. Trees Forever is now giving the initiative a boost and laying out a plan to accomplish the goal.
At a relaunch event on May 1, we unveiled a collaborative webpage to help individuals, communities, and companies track the progress by recording trees they have planted or preserved. Give it a try and share your progress with us!
As the initiative grows, additional resources will be added to the website. We also offer cost-free Trees Forever TreeKeeper trainings to get more skilled community leaders ready to assist. The project will be expanding to host tree distribution events and tree plantings, while also reaching out to local companies and communities to engage them in the work. A special emphasis will be given to launch new programs to help get trees to underserved communities, and help to educate the public on the importance of growing trees. Interested in being a Trees Forever TreeKeeper? TreeKeepers
Our goal is to create a collaborative environment to plant, preserve, and track trees. It will take a dedication to the future of our communities and a commitment to the next generation to leave Central Iowa better than we found it!