Hoover Ridge tree-planting March 27

The Madison Extension office is giving everyone a chance to spend some time outside with a tree planting party 2-4 p.m. Saturday, March 27 at Hoover Ridge.
The group plans to plant 1,600 trees in the two-hour time slot and is asking Madison County residents to lend a hand.

The event is geared for the youth of the county, however, anyone is welcome to come, Extension Agent Adam Downing said in an interview earlier in the month.

“We’d like to have about 80-100 people, 75 percent youth and 25 as adults to be group leaders,” Downing said. “(But) we’re planting about eight acres (so how long it takes) depends on how many people come – I think we can get most of it done in a couple of hours.”

The new trees are a variety of native species, including: persimmon, northern red oak, red maple, black oak, river birch, black locust, sycamore, indigo bush, silky dogwood, hazelnut and shortleaf pine, Downing said. The diversity mimics what can be found naturally in the woods of the county and has been selected to provide food and habitat for wildlife.

“Our native forests are very diverse,” Downing said. “When doing a planting to function in a natural ecosystem we will try to match that diversity.”

The trees are being planted to help filter water run-off from the newly created fields at the Hoover Ridge athletic complex and provide wildlife habitat, Downing said.

“Hoover Ridge is a community resource and there’re a lot of nice ballfields and recreational opportunities but it could use more shade,” Downing said. “More importantly this protects the water quality … because of the development out there there’s going to be more (rain) water run-off – not a criticism, it’s just a fact, (and) having a buffer between that run-off and a waterway is the most economical and ecological way to clean the water.”

The extension office has been planning this mass planting, in conjunction with the Madison branch of the Virginia Department of Forestry, 4-H members, Plow and Hearth, Washington, D.C. based-Belfort Furniture and the Alexandria-based consulting group Conservation Services, since last summer. Several of the groups have donated money to the project; it is projected to cost $8,000 in total.

To help fund the program, the county has applied for a grant through the VDOF, the money, which requires a match of volunteer time by the county, will cover the tubes and matting used to protect the trees. The cost of the trees, around $2,000, has been offset by a tree-planting grant through the extension office and money donated by Plow and Hearth and Belfort Furniture – both companies have programs dedicated to giving back to Virginia communities.

The trees are primarily hardwood, slow-growing, bareroot seedlings about 2 or 3 years old. This means that they will be 18 inches to three feet in length. However, given the number of plants and the distance to be covered by the planters, shovels may not be the most effective tools. The organizers are providing “planting bars” to helpers because it allows for faster work. A planting bar is a metal rod with a wedge-shaped panel on one end that makes a long and narrow hole.

“We aren’t just sticking (trees) in the ground and (moving on),” Downing said. “You aren’t actually removing soil (with the bar), you just wedge open a piece of earth – (we’ll) make sure people get it right.”

Tubes and mats will also be used to wrap the newly planted trees to help protect them from deer and encourage their survival, Downing said.

“The benefits (the new trees) will provide in terms of air and water quality and wildlife habitat and scenic improvement (will) far out live a couple thousand dollars worth of seedlings,” Downing said.

The planting party will happen regardless of the temperature, but will bedelayed if it is raining. In that situation the planting will be postponed until Saturday, April 10. The possibility of having to postpone the event has led the extension agents to ask people to register for the event, however unregistered volunteers will not be turned away, Downing said.

For information, or to volunteer to plant trees, contact the Madison County Extension office at (540) 948-6881.