On April 20, the First Downs for Trees program celebrated its 11^th year by distributing 411 trees to 16 Brown County communities for planting. First Downs for Trees is a cooperative effort between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Green Bay Packers, Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) and corporate sponsors Essity and Green Bay Packaging, Inc.

The program donates trees to participating communities based on the number of first downs in the previous season.

On average, NFL teams produce more than 450 tons of carbon dioxide per year in travel, and the Packers wanted to reduce those effects as a part of their Green Team initiative. The donated trees help the Packers offset their carbon footprint. These trees also increase the urban forest canopy and provide a plethora of environmental, economic, social and health benefits to Brown County residents.

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Love Wisconsin, a digital storytelling organization, recently wrote a series on municipal workers at the local level. One of the stories featured Dennis Fermenich, the city forester for Greenfield. Here is a link to the full article.

Copied below are a few segments of Dennis’ story:

Getting started as the Greenfield city forester: At first, everyone in the city didn’t welcome me. But there were certainly people in the city who wanted the trees and wanted forestry to move forward. I’ve outlived several of those people that were kind of anchors on my heels, to the point where I’m now working with the city and enjoying this amazing support from the public works department, from City Hall; they recognize the contribution that forestry makes to the city.

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In recent years, Cedarburg’s urban forest was declining. From 2017-2019, less than one-third of removed trees were replaced. “Development, storms, insects (especially emerald ash borer), and disease have reduced the City’s tree canopy by as much as 300 trees… trees which, at present, are not being replaced,” said Kevin Westphal, Cedarburg parks and forestry superintendent, in January 2020.

With the help of a 2020 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Urban Forestry grant, the non-profit Cedarburg Green stepped in to help reverse the decline. Over the past year, Cedarburg Green held a remarkable public awareness campaign that included a tree sale, tree plantings, lectures, an art and writing contest, tree tags promoting the benefits of street trees, a guided tree walk, a display at the local library, an appearance on a radio talk show and more. “The goal of this program is to have more tree-educated decision-makers, residents and future homeowners (our children),” said Jeanne Mueller, Cedarburg Green volunteer and grant-writer.

The fruits of their labor proliferated. This past November, a newspaper article headline listed forestry as one of Cedarburg’s 2021 budget priorities, which includes $30,000 for tree planting and $50,000 for stump grinding.

Continue reading “Campaigning For Trees Pays Off” →