10/07/2024
Bridgeport Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts will learn about planting and help plant trees at the Veterans Memorial Pond this evening at 5:30 p.m.
Thanks to the Ten Free Trees program, an effort of the Nebraska Forest Service and the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, the City of Bridgeport received 8 trees for the Veteran’s Memorial Park & Pond project. This project is part of an ongoing project to ReTree Bridgeport.
Bridgeport has received and will be planting 6 trees around the pond this fall, with two additional ponderosa pines planted at the ball diamonds. Trees to be planted on the west side of the pond will include Bald Cypress, Oak Heritage, Oak Prairie Stature, Elm Prairie exp, and Osage Orange. Bridgeport Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are invited to participate in planting the trees at the pond where they will learn the proper way to plant and mulch the trees and help in the process.
Despite providing a wide range of social, economic, and environmental benefits, most Nebraska community forests have been in steady and sometimes dramatic decline. Many challenges contribute, including extreme weather, insects, disease, and lack of diversity. The Emerald Ash borer is the latest major challenge added to the list.
In an effort to stop this decline and increase community forest resilience, the Ten Free Trees program grants up to 10 high quality trees per project for tree-related educational events and community celebrations promoting trees and fall planting.
In addition to simply planting more trees, the program goals include increasing appreciation and awareness of the significant value of community forests in Nebraska. Special emphasis is placed on species diversity and higher impact projects, especially street tree planting and projects in neighborhoods of highest need.
Ten Free Trees is supported by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum’s Trees for Nebraska Towns Initiative, funded by the Nebraska Environmental Trust, the USDA Forest Service’s Community Forestry Inflation Reduction Act funding received by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, and the USDA Forest Service Landscape Scale Restoration funding received by the Nebraska Forest Service.
