Part of the mission of NNGI is to get more native species planted in our community. Through our Spring Sale and our monthly Farmers Market booths, we have been able to provide homeowners with hundreds of flowering perennials and shrubs. Getting native trees planted has been a bit more challenging.
You may recall that last year, NNGI was the recipient of a generous donation from the group 100 Women of Huntington.
This money was earmarked to be used to plant native trees throughout the Town of Huntington. Partnering with the Town, trees were planted in the newly renovated Whitman Park, the Gold Star beach parking lot, and a street in Northport Village of Northport street that had recently lost some mature trees.
When the local environmental non-profit the 1653 Foundation heard we were planting trees, they reached out to NNGI and offered to match the 100 Women donation. With the encouragement of the 1653 Foundation, we then took their pledge to the Town of Huntington’s Environmental Open Space and Park Fund (EOSPA) board where we were successful in lining up even more funding!
This means that a total of 237 native trees will be planted during the Fall of 2025!
Specifically, 17 different species of native trees, including red maples, swamp white oaks, red oak, honey locust, pin oak, redbud, American linden, pitch pine, sugar maples, river birch, black gum, bald cypress, American elm, serviceberry and American hornbeam in 21 different Huntington parks.
The money includes water bags for each tree planted to help them through the first year of growth. The Town will handle all the planting of the trees and the maintenance of the water bags to give these trees the best shot at survival. We are also hoping this is just the beginning and we will continue planting trees each year.
We are so grateful to live in a community with organizations like the 100 Women of Huntington and 1653 Foundation. We are thankful to the Town of Huntington for committing to these projects, and to all of the Town personnel who helped to make this initiative happen, in particular the Town’s Senior Environmental Planner, Christian Granelli, who worked with us to choose appropriate sites and trees for all of the sites.