Marion

After participating in Trees Forever’s youth involvement training, the Marion Tree Board reached out to two local high schools to cooperate on tree planting projects in 2011. Two members of the Linn-Mar High School FFA and two Linn-Mar teachers worked with the Tree Board to plan a planting project along Connection Avenue in Marion. Approximately 80 Linn-Mar students planted 45 trees with help from the Marion Tree Board and the City of Marion Parks Department. The planting was funded by a Trees Forever/Alliant Energy Branching Out grant. The primary FFA volunteer, Cody Martin, received a Trees Forever 2011 Youth Volunteer Award and was featured in our spring 2011 Leaflet. Linn-Mar botany students also designed a street tree planting plan along N. 10th Street in Marion, which the Tree Board hopes to plant with Linn-Mar students in coming years.

While working with Linn-Mar High School, the Tree Board found out that Marion High School students wanted to help organize and carry out volunteer projects during their first annual One Day in May service project. Student leaders helped to organize the planting event, and approximately 30 students helped the Marion Tree Board plant 14 replacement street trees throughout Marion.

The connections made between the Marion Tree Board and Linn-Mar and Marion High schools continued into the fall of 2011. In October, Linn-Mar students helped to plant trees at Thomas Park. In November, members of the 2012 One Day in May student planning committee worked with Tree Board members to write a successful Trees Forever/Alliant Energy Branching Out grant application for a large street tree planting project in May 2012. These partnerships have expanded the capacity of the Marion Tree Board and helped young volunteers get involved and become leaders in environmental projects and community betterment.