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Parks committee accepts donation of 800 trees for East River Greenway; city to plant with biochar
Summary
The committee voted to accept a donation of 800 trees purchased through a grant awarded to the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; the forestry division will plant the trees over two to three years using biochar and will record staff time as an in-kind match.
The Green Bay Parks Committee approved accepting a donation of 800 trees from the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory on March 11. The observatory received a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to purchase the trees and offered to deliver them to the city’s forestry nursery for planting along the East River Greenway over a two- to three-year period.
The Director said the grant includes a condition to use biochar for planting. “Biochar is…it’s like a kiln that’s portable. So you can move it from site to site and then you put various hardwood in there and burn it…and it creates a really good additive material that you mix in with the soil at planting time which provides a lot of nutrients to help that tree thrive,” the Director said. The forestry division has prior experience creating and using biochar and staff said they are trained on the process.
Committee members asked about financial impacts; staff said there is no cash match required from the city. Instead, the observatory will count the value of city staff time spent managing and planting the trees as an in-kind match toward the grant. The Director also said the observatory plans to coordinate similar plantings with two other municipalities as part of the broader effort.
What happens next: the city will accept the donation and forestry staff will schedule planting and track labor for the observatory’s grant reporting; no city cash match was pledged.
