The City of Tipton is planting 95 trees on Tuesday, October 12th with the help of dozens of volunteers. The fall planting project will help replace many of the hundreds of trees lost during the August 2020 derecho.
Two derecho recovery grants will fund Tipton’s 95 new trees including Trees Forever’s Planting Hope grant, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (matching grant with the City of Tipton).
Forty trees were funded by the Planting Hope derecho recovery grant from Trees Forever. This $4,500 grant was awarded to the Tipton Lions Club in July for fall planting. All grant proceeds are being donated to the City of Tipton for derecho-destroyed trees.
This is the second Planting Hope grant the Tipton Lions Club has received from Trees Forever this year. The first grant award was made in April for $5,000. It funded 57 trees planted on Earth Day at the hard-hit Tipton Public Library/Monument Square location, as well as at many other street locations throughout the city. Since St. Patrick’s Day, the Tipton Lions Club has raised and donated $11,520 to the City of Tipton for new trees.
On September 1, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources awarded the City of Tipton a $5,000 matching grant for derecho tree recovery. The DNR 2021 Community Forestry Grant award requires a 50% cost match [$5,000] from the City of Tipton. All of the DNR-awarded trees will be planted on October 12 by 13 teams of adult volunteers, Tipton High School students, and volunteers from many other community service groups.
The purpose of the DNR 2021 Derecho Community Forestry Grant is to purchase and plant trees suitable for Iowa on publicly owned lands. Qualifying public lands include street right-of-ways, parks, school grounds, courthouse lawns, public buildings, fairgrounds, cemeteries, libraries, and trails. Award recipients are required to purchase trees from Iowa firms that meet high-quality nursery standards. Tipton Greenhouse and Kelly Tree Farm, Clarence, are supplying trees for the October 12 planting.
