Thompson Plants First Trees Of Season At Delaware Park & Hamlin Park School #74
Hamlin Park Community & Olmsted Parks Tree Plantings are Underway
Buffalo, NY – Antoine M. Thompson, New York State Senator (D-60, Parts of Erie & Niagara Counties), ranking Democrat of the New York State Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, will be joining the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy and Re-Tree WNY tomorrow morning to plant the first trees of spring in Delaware Park and in the Hamlin Park Historic District neighborhood.
The tree plantings are part of an on-going effort to reforest the Olmsted Parks and communities in response to the October 2006 surprise storm. The Community Tree Plantings are supported in part by a contribution from the $1 million reforestation fund designated by Mayor Brown in the 2007-2008 City Budget for recovery efforts around the city. Other funds are from community donations to the Olmsted ReLeaf Fund, a recovery appeal formed by the Conservancy in response to devastating storm damage, and Re-Tree WNY, an arm of Keep WNY Beautiful as part of the Great American Clean Up.
Hamlin Park Elementary School #74, located at 126 Donaldson Rd., will be the site of the Hamlin Park Historic District tree planting, beginning at 9am. The set goal is to plant 200 trees with 100 volunteers. The school is also a designated site for the Safe Routes to School Initiative, a federal program to improve schools’ surrounding infrastructure, geared at promoting students to walk and bicycle to school.
“I would like to thank the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Re-Tree WNY, and all of their respective partners for their ongoing efforts to reforest the City of Buffalo and the Western New York community. I am looking forward to the environmental, recreational, and aesthetic improvements and benefits that these trees will bring,” stated Senator Thompson.
The Delaware Park tree planting is scheduled to take place outside of the main lodge, located at 14 Parkside Ave., and is scheduled to take place at 10am. The Conservancy plans on planting 108 trees.
Re-Tree WNY will be planting a total of 30,000 trees over a five-year period and began the program on Arbor Day 2007. Additional information on Re-Tree WNY can be found at www.re-treewny.org.
Other tree plantings being held on Saturday, May 3 include Prospect (near Front Park) and Riverside Parks from 9am – Noon. To volunteer, call the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy at (716) 838-1249 ext. 15 or visit www.buffaloolmstedparks.org.