Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Free Tree Seedlings for Local Citizens


The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) and the Winston County Natural Resources Council is encouraging citizens to join in this year’s Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign. The free trees will be given out on Tuesday, February 19, 2013, at the Neighborhood Facilities Building in Haleyville starting at 9:00 a.m. and continuing to noon or until all the seedlings are gone. 

Winston County is one of the areas to receive seedlings in an effort to reforest the state’s communities damaged in the April 2011 tornados. According to AFC officials, 3000 seedlings will be given away in North Alabama this year in this second phase of the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign, a large-scale, multi-year initiative launched jointly in June of last year 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 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

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