The Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign recently announced the distribution of thousands of trees to residents at an event last week in Tuscaloosa as part of an effort to reforest the state’s communities damaged in the April 2011 tornadoes. This large-scale, multi-year initiative was launched jointly in June of last year by the Alabama Forestry Commission and the Arbor Day Foundation. Its purpose is to support recovery and help restore the tree-lined streets, shaded parks, and beautiful neighborhoods that have always been part of Alabama, as they were before the April tornadoes.
First Lady Dianne Bentley and Mayor Walter Maddox joined Assistant State Forester Patrick Glass and the Arbor Day Foundation’s Dan Lambe in announcing the 16 North Alabama communities that will receive 30,000 trees this month in the first phase of this campaign. With plans to continue tree distribution into the fall and winter of each year to other communities that suffered destruction from last spring’s tornadoes, the ultimate goal of the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign is to bring the state’s community forests back to their previous beauty and strength.
While the cleanup and rebuilding will continue for years to come, all Americans have the chance to support the Alabama Tree Recovery Campaign and help in the healing process by making an online donation at www.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 Alabamians affected by the April 2011 tornadoes.
The 16 communities include: Cordova, Cullman, Fyffe, Glen Allen, Hanceville, Ider, Jasper, Lakeview, Oakman, Ohatchee, Pleasant Grove, Reform, Shiloh, Sipsey, Tuscaloosa and Vance.