Arbor Day: Mayor's Greening Initiative Tree Planting

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TREES PROVIDE AMAZING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS TO OUR CITY. That is why in 2011 the Green Grand Rapids amendment to the City’s master plan established a 40 percent tree canopy goal. Grand Rapids has a current tree canopy cover of 34.6 percent, which means our community is only 5.4 percent shy of our goal.

MAYOR BLISS HAS COMMITTED TO THE NEW MAYOR’S GREENING INITIATIVE to reach that goal. The Greening Initiative targets areas of our city with low tree canopy cover and provides tree plantings in these areas. The Mayor’s Greening Initiative not only will green our city but also will help us combat climate change, clean our air and waterways, and bring us closer than ever to obtaining our 40 percent canopy cover goal.

Each year - with help from the City’s Forestry Department and Friends of Grand Rapids Parks - Mayor Bliss will host a Greening Initiative Tree Planting that will bring together community and corporate volunteers to plant hundreds of trees around the city in one day.

The 2017 MAYOR’S GREENING INITIATIVE ARBOR DAY PLANTING will take place on Arbor Day, April 28th! We will plant over 350 trees in and around Martin Luther King Park. Please join us as we #GreenUpGR!

VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION DETAILS:

Volunteer registration will take place between Monday, March 20th and Sunday, April 23rd and is first come first serve. If you have any questions or would like a Friends of Grand Rapids Parks staff member to complete your registration, please call the Friends of Grand Rapids Parks Office at 616-288-7209. For more information about the planting details visit the Frequently Asked Questions page!

To register as a Corporate (if you are volunteering through your place of employment) or Community (if you are volunteering with your family or friends, outside of work) volunteer follow this link!