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Hartford Pays $600k To Plant New Trees

By Jeff Cohen

April 10, 2012

Hartford is paying $600,000 to a local non-profit to plant 1,000 trees across the city. As WNPR’s Jeff Cohen reports, the money will begin to replace some of the trees lost in last October's snow storm.

One thousand trees may sound like a lot. But consider this: the city probably loses between 200 and 400 a year. And in last October’s storm, it lost around 3,000.

Still, Ron Pitz says the money to plant new trees will put a dent in replacing city trees that have been recently lost.

"This is a nice shot in the arm for us."

Pitz is the executive director of the Knox Parks Foundation which, among other things, plants trees -- about 2,000 of them in the city since 2005. Now, with money from the city, it's going to plant 1,000 more -- some with volunteers and city residents.

"When you get community residents to actually help you dig a hole and put that tree in, they're not gonna let that tree die and they're not gonna let it get vandalized they're gonna watch it like a hawk because some of their sweat is in that hole that was dug."

Pitz says the benefits of trees in a city like Hartford are obvious – they provide shade, they cool streets and buildings, and they clean the air.

The city council approved the funding this week.