Michael Gee, certified arborist for Forest Hill Park, and Tree Steward Jesse Wright with a delivery of oak and elm trees for the park (Photo courtesy Richmond Tree Stewards)
Richmond has an urban forest that is best appreciated with a walk about the city in the fall.
You can learn about some of the trees in the canopy courtesy of the Richmond Tree Stewards, a nonprofit that seeks to protect and promote the city’s forest. Its volunteers help with a variety of activities, including tree maintenance, planning and protection, as well as education projects such as tree walks, says Louise Seals, president of the group.
There are tree walks on Belle Isle and at Byrd Park, Forest Hill Park and Petronius S. Jones Park off Idlewood Avenue. Trails are marked, and trees are tagged with information including common and scientific names, whether they’re native, and a QR code for additional information. The group is continuously updating the walks, sprucing them up and working on signage. Seals’ favorite walk is the shortest, the trail at Petronius Jones Park, because the stewards planted a lot of those trees.
October is a great time to enjoy the foliage, but it’s also prime tree planting time. Tree Stewards provides free seedlings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays in October, on a first-come, first-served basis. Contact them via their website, or at communityrootsrva@gmail.com.
Tree Stewards has a unique gravel bed that gives the seedlings a head start. Planted in gravel instead of soil, the trees develop a superior root structure that will help them thrive. Available species are natives, and they include elderberry, gray and silky dogwoods, hazelnut, persimmon, red maple, sweet bay magnolia, and redbud. “We try to deal with natives as much as possible,” Seals says.
If you find a walk of interest and want to learn more or help out, Tree Stewards offers several opportunities. One project involves maintenance, cleanup work and removal of invasive species on Belle Isle. There are about eight people involved year-round, but newbies are welcome. That group begins work at about 9 a.m. on Thursdays.
Stewardship requires training in the basics of identifying, caring for and tending to trees. Stewards help to prune trees for structure and for sidewalk and street clearance to prevent truck damage.
Care of larger trees is relegated to the city, but the stewards prune and work on smaller trees. The city hauls away the debris.
As with most things, the pandemic has required the group to adapt its operations, such as downsizing its efforts to prune city trees. Stewards provide their own tools of the trade, and face masks are required.
There are numerous retirees in the ranks, but stewards also include Virginia Commonwealth University students, Seals says.
A former managing editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Seals became involved with the program after seeing a calendar item in the newspaper. “It was like so many other things in life, I just fell into it,” she says. She enjoys the camaraderie of the group, friendships built in a cadre of “like-minded loners.”
