Plant! Milton Launches To Educate, Encourage Tree Planting

MILTON, GA — The City has launched Plant! Milton – a multi-pronged initiative intended to engage, educate, and encourage residents to do what they can to plant trees and keep Milton green.

The Plant! Milton effort grew out of the City Council’s passage of the Tree Canopy Conservation Ordinance, which aimed to help preserve big and small forests, tree-lined roads, and green views beloved around Milton. The idea was to compliment this ordinance (which focused primarily on tree removal requirements) with a concerted public outreach effort to support the planting and proper care of trees, thus increasing Milton’s tree canopy and quality of life for its residents.

“Trees can add character, color, and much more to any community – particularly one like Milton, where so many of us enjoy the outdoors,” Mayor Peyton Jamison said. “Plant! Milton is a terrific, living testament to this fact and trees’ special importance to our city. I look forward to seeing this initiative grow, along with more Milton trees."

City Arborist Sandra Dewitt heads up Plant! Milton, working with city staff and partners in the community. This initiative will include elements such as:

• A special website featuring information about planting, trees, events, and more.
• "Ask the Arborist”: an opportunity for people to ask questions (by emailing askthearborist@cityofmiltonga.us) about trees that anyone would appreciate answers to, with DeWitt answering one per month. Her first such response was featured earlier this week on the City of Milton’s Facebook page.
• Arbor Day festivities scheduled for Friday, Feb. 18. This annual event is a chance to celebrate trees in Milton and beyond, as well as to plant one. Having taken place in recent years at Bell Memorial Park, the city’s 2022 Arbor Day ceremony will start at 10 a.m. at the recently transformed Providence Park.
• Sharing 200 Northern Red Oak seedlings, originally from the Georgia Forestry Commission, with citizens. The hope is that these can grow into trees that will thrive for years all around Milton. They should be available at the aforementioned Arbor Day event as well as that Friday afternoon at City Hall.
• Showcasing the Mark Law Arboretum, which is in Bell Memorial Park. People can visit in person or virtually through an interactive map featuring the names, precise locations, and pictures of the Arboretum’s dozens of trees.
• Offering Plant! Milton-themed merchandise – like a special water bottle – to give out to city residents who share proof of planting trees. If you plant a tree, send a photo to askthearborist@cityofmiltonga.us to get a free water bottle.
• Other still-to-come events, outreach initiatives, and mutually beneficial partnerships intended to promote the planting and thriving of trees in Milton.

These efforts aim to make people more appreciative of trees’ beauty and special place in Milton, while also showing them how to help their own trees thrive.

Any person or group wishing to be part of the Plant! Milton cause, with a potential partnership opportunity, or with a general question about trees (that others may have too) can email askthearborist@cityofmiltonga.us.

“Whether in your yard, along our roads, or around public spaces, trees are very much a part of Milton’s identity and why so many of us love this city,” Dewitt said. “We hope that Plant! Milton will nurture that love so that it grows – much like we hope that we’ll have more trees growing and thriving here.”