The sun shone on the Henry Anderson Park off Highway 54 in Carrboro Saturday morning. With the dirt still wet from a week full of rain, digging holes for more than two dozen trees was a little easier than normal.
Carrboro Environmental Sustainability Coordinator Laura Janway said she still didn’t expect the task to be a breeze. She described the goal of the many volunteers at the park.
“We’ve got a lot of native tree species that we had delivered from a local nursery,” said Janway, “and we’re transporting them down the side of the stream, digging holes to plant them in and watering them.”
Planned by the town to improve erosion efforts at the park, the tree-planting event drew several community members to help plant tulip poplars, eastern redbuds, flowering dogwoods and many other trees. By creating a stream buffer, the trees should ultimately prevent some runoff from entering the stream and create more shade for park visitors.
Made possible by a grant from the NC Urban Forest Council and its Legacy Tree Fund grant program, the Town of Carrboro also said the effort goes toward the groups statewide goal of planting 10,000 trees over 10 years.
While there are many long-term benefits to the trees being planted, Janway explained some of the immediate impact both the trees and other erosion prevention methods would have.
“This stream leads into Morgan Creek and eventually into University Lake, which is one of Carrboro’s primary water supplies,” she said. “The trees we plant here will help filter the water and trap pollutants before they get to the water supply.”
“In addition,” Janway continued, “this is a great project for stormwater. A few years ago, we created a stormwater utility as part of our Climate Action Plan. The trees along the stream are really going to help slow overland flow and allow it to infiltrate instead of just running off and causing a lot of erosion and flooding.”
Carrboro’s Climate Action Plan, which was established in 2017, details how the town aims to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emission by 2025 while enhancing ecosystems and finding other ways limit environmental impact.
Janway said the efforts of the many volunteers on Saturday directly go toward achieving those goals.
“We want to put a lot of pollinator plants [here] and create a lot of wildlife habitats along the stream,” she said. Trees are also really great to sequester carbon and help Carrboro and its goals in our Climate Action Plan.”
More tree and flower-planting events are soon to come for the Carrboro community, according to the town government. Janway said another is being scheduled in January to plant several hundred live stakes, which are cut branches from living trees that can take root.
The full Carrboro Climate Action Plan can be found on the town’s website.
