Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tree Planting And Programs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Climate Change Coalition details tree‑planting scale, tagged‑tree monitoring and a new business program
Summary
Jeff Flutze, director of the Climate Change Coalition (and LNRP staff), described coordinating countywide plantings of about 10,000 trees per year, a tagged‑tree research project (2,700 trees) to track survival, community composting efforts and a new Climate Forward Business Program targeted at local businesses.
Jeff Flutze, director of the Climate Change Coalition and an LNRP staff member, outlined several climate‑action programs the coalition ran in 2025 and priorities for the coming year. He said the group coordinates the Door County Big Plant, a multi‑partner effort that has helped source, share and plant roughly 10,000 trees per year over the past four years, combining low‑cost tree sales and free public plantings."We... plant 10,000 trees every year for the last 4 years running," Jeff said, explaining the program pairs an at‑cost sale with coordinated free plantings and many partners across the county.The coalition also led a Bridal Climate Survivability Project that tagged 2,700 trees across five sites to monitor survival and environmental factors over time; Jeff called this effort a research‑oriented experiment to learn which plantings thrive and why."This project is really to put names and numbers, put little tags on 2,700 of those trees, and watch them over the years," he said. The coalition plans to study soil, water, sun exposure and other variables to improve future plantings.On waste diversion, Jeff described a community composting network and educational outreach that collects food scraps from large events and connects people who can accept those scraps. He said the coalition runs roughly 15 composting collection events annually.In solar work, the coalition partnered with MREA (Midwest Renewable Energy Association) and a solar contractor to coordinate a group buy that led to 44 new solar installations for households, businesses and nonprofits, which Jeff said lowered costs for participants.Finally, Jeff introduced the Climate Forward Business Program — a voluntary, free program that offers businesses a menu of metrics (renewable energy, waste reduction, transportation, etc.) and concierge help to take the next steps toward sustainability. He said the program is modeled on other voluntary metric programs and aims to recruit hotels, restaurants and small businesses in Door County.
What happens next: The coalition will continue tree planting, repeat the solar group buy, expand community composting and begin outreach for the Climate Forward Business Program.
