Residents line up for free trees during Thursday giveaway
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Cars lined up Thursday afternoon at the Sixth Street Softball Complex to get free trees.
The Marshalltown Trees Forever Volunteer Group gave 100 trees and shrubs to residents on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The choices of trees or shrubs were bur oak, swamp white oak, hackberry, sycamore, tulip tree, bald cyprus, serviceberry, chinquapin oak, eastern redbud and eastern wahoo. With a limited number of each, there were no guarantees residents would receive their top choice. They were asked what their three main tree picks were. Within 30 minutes, all of the trees were gone.
The featured trees are native to Iowa and were supplied by Iowa Native Trees and Shrubs near Woodward.
Volunteer Erin Carpenter, a Green Iowa Americorps member and Marshalltown resident, said the event's purpose was to get more trees in the community.
"We do that through planting trees on terraces and in public parks and property, and with the giveaway," she said.
Carpenter said the tree giveaway happens every year, sometimes twice per year. It might happen in the spring or the fall or both.
"The spring and fall are the best times for planting trees," she said.
The trees given away were chosen because of the diversity. Carpenter said they want to avoid situations such as the emerald ash borer infestation or Dutch elm disease. She said there are a lot of maple trees in Marshalltown, so they opted to stay away from those.
Carpenter's personal favorite of the choices was the bald cyprus, which she said is a deciduous conifer. The tree has pine-like needles, but loses them in the fall.
"That's why we have a range. We want a resilient tree canopy," Carpenter said. "If we have some new bug appear in 20 years, it's not going to wipe out everything."
Helping out with the giveaway were Jasmine Gavarrete, 15, and Genevieve Gavarrete, 16. They are members of the Students Teaching and Empowering Philanthropy (STEP) through the Community Foundation of Marshall County (CFMC). The student group decided to provide a $500 grant for the tree giveaway.
"It was one of our focus areas -- environmental conservation," Genevieve said.
Julie Hitchins, executive director of the CFMC said the students were very dedicated to this project.
"One of their members has a passion for trees," she said. "She lost 20 trees to the derecho, so that passion comes from personal experience."
Marshalltown residents who wanted a tree, but did not get one can still get one planted in their right-of-way. They can contact Marshalltown Trees Forever via their Facebook page.
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 211 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.