Free trees for local citizens

Published 5:00 am Friday, February 14, 2014

Through the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign, Argo is one of 18 communities to receive tree seedlings in an effort to reforest the state’s communities damaged in the April 2011 tornados. The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) and the City of Argo is encouraging citizens to participate in a seedling give-away on Saturday, February 15. The free trees will be given out at the Fire Department in the Argo City Hall, located at 100 Blackjack Road from 8:00 to 9:00.

  According to AFC officials, 25,000 seedlings will be given away in North Alabama this year in the third and final phase of the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign, a large-scale, multi-year initiative launched jointly in 2012 by the Alabama Forestry Commission and the Arbor Day Foundation. In an effort to restore the state’s urban tree canopy and the many environmental, economic, and social benefits those trees provide, the campaign will continue tree distribution into the fall and winter of each year to other communities that suffered destruction.

Anyone can support the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign by making an online donation at arborday.org/Alabama. For every dollar in donations, the Arbor Day Foundation, in coordination with the Alabama Forestry Commission, will deliver a tree for distribution to Alabamans affected by last spring’s tornados. 

The mission of the Alabama Forestry Commission is to protect and sustain Alabama’s forest resources using professionally applied stewardship principals and education, ensuring that the state’s forests contribute to abundant timber and wildlife, clean air and water, and a healthy economy. To learn more about the AFC, visit www.forestry.alabama.gov.