Downtown tree planting!

TREES PROVIDE AMAZING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS TO OUR CITY. That is why in 2011 the Green Grand Rapids amendment to the City’s master plan established a 40 percent tree canopy goal. Grand Rapids has a current tree canopy cover of 34.6 percent, which means our community is only 5.4 percent shy of our goal.

MAYOR BLISS HAS COMMITTED TO THE NEW MAYOR’S GREENING INITIATIVE to reach that goal. The Greening Initiative targets areas of our city with low tree canopy cover and provides tree plantings in these areas. The Mayor’s Greening Initiative not only will green our city but also will help us combat climate change, clean our air and waterways, and bring us closer than ever to obtaining our 40 percent canopy cover goal.

Each year – with help from the City’s Forestry Department and the Grand Rapids Urban Forest Project – Mayor Bliss will host a Greening Initiative Tree Planting that will bring together community and corporate volunteers to plant hundreds of trees around the city in one day.

This year, the INAUGURAL MAYOR’S GREENING INITIATIVE TREE PLANTING IS IN HONOR OF RICHARD AND HELEN DEVOS for all they have done to grow Grand Rapids into the award- winning city it is today. This project was made possible by support from the original committee to thank Richard and Helen DeVos and the Employee’s Community Improvement Fund at Amway Corporation.

YOU CAN HELP GROW OUR CITY BY JOINING MAYOR BLISS AT THE 2016 INAUGURAL GREENING INITIATIVE TREE PLANTING!

EVENT: Mayor’s Greening Initiative Tree Planting
DATE: Friday, October 28, 2016
TIME: 8 A.M. to 1 P.M.
KICKOFF LOCATION: DeVos Place 
SIGN UP: Individuals sign up here!

CORPORATE VOLUNTEER GROUPS WITH 10 OR MORE PLEASE CONTACT RACHEL SKYLIS, VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, FRIENDS OF GRAND RAPIDS PARKS TO SIGN UP FOR THE EVENT!