WILMINGTON — In honor of the 150th anniversary year of Arbor Day, hundreds of trees will be given away at Legion Stadium on Saturday.
The event is being hosted by the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees, in partnership with Verizon and the Arbor Day Foundation — the largest nonprofit dedicated to tree replenishment nationwide for 50 years. The goal is to distribute 800 trees for free to the community. It will be the sixth giveaway.
“This partnership alone has already delivered more than 5,000 trees to Wilmington through previous community tree giveaways and tree plantings,” said Connie Parker, president of the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees.
Native species will be available in 3-gallon buckets. Participants can choose two trees per person: River Birch, Red Choke Cherry, Bald Cypress, Elderberry, Washington Hawthorne, Hazelnut, Sweetbay Magnolia, Black Oak, Cherrybark Oak, Overcup Oak, Black Oak, Serviceberry, Virginia Sweetspire, and Blackhaw Viburnum. According to a release from the alliance, the most popular trees, Sweetbay Magnolia and Washington Hawthorne, are limited to one per person.
In addition to the trees, attendees can bring their own containers to take away free mulch, offered from the City of Wilmington.
Saturday’s event will be the second tree giveaway this month. The organizations paired up on Feb. 12 to gift 600 trees, which were scooped up by 10:30 a.m. The trees are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“We have seen that Wilmington residents are eager to replenish their tree canopy,” Parker said.
The goal is to replace trees that have been downed by coastal storms. The Alliance for Cape Fear Trees was founded in 2015 and is run by all volunteers. It has planted more than 3,000 trees throughout the city and distributed over 6,000 to residents to help rebuild the tree canopy.
The alliance set a goal to grow Wilmington’s urban forest by planting 1,739 trees by fall 2021, in honor of the city’s founding year. It met its goal — even doubled it in the first year, according to the alliance website.
The Arbor Day Foundation educates and advocates for planting and nurturing trees to help improve air and water quality, as well as combat climate change, deforestation, poverty and hunger. The foundation has planted over 500 million trees in 50 countries.
“At Verizon, we believe trees are a crucial part of tackling the climate crisis. That’s why we are proud to sponsor this event in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation to help reestablish the Wilmington area tree canopy in the wake of Hurricane Florence,” James Gowen, chief sustainability officer and senior vice president, supply chain operations, said in a release. “Since 2009, Verizon has been committed to reforestation. We have planted 7.8 million trees in 18 countries and 35 states. This contributes to our public goal of planting 20 million trees by 2030.”
The free tree giveaway starts at 9 a.m. at Legion Stadium, 2149 Carolina Beach Rd. It will wrap by noon or until the trees are gone.
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