Almost 20 speakers representing a coalition of local environmental groups said at a City Council meeting this month that the budget continues to invest in fossil fuels and fails to take meaningful steps to meet the city’s commitment to climate equity.
Volunteers Needed To Help Plant Trees Saturday
300 trees donated from Reforest Richmond will populate a barren bike path near Fairfield Elementary in Richmond’s East End. Richmond Cycling Corps, the non-profit spearheading the planting, could use some help. (Photo: Ian Stewart/VPM News)
If you have gloves and a shovel, you can help plant some 300 trees along a barren bike path at Armstrong Bike Park, near Fairfield Elementary, in Richmond’s East End this Saturday.
The trees have been donated from Reforest Richmond, which is trying to increase the city’s tree canopy by 60% by 2037.
The decade old non-profit Richmond Cycling Corps is spearheading the planting. The group is a small outreach program that uses cycling as a means to build relationships with youth living in the East End.
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FILE PHOTO: Trees line the James River in Richmond. (Creative Commons License)
Over the last month, Reforest Richmond has distributed more than 8,000 Eastern Redbud tree saplings.
Reforest Richmond is a campaign from the Richmond Tree Committee, an arm of the city council-created Green City Commission. The campaign mobilized more than 60 volunteers to hand out trees at dozens of distribution sites in November. Many of these sites were Richmond Public School facilities, intentionally picked because they’ve acted as free meal distribution sites during the pandemic.
Daniel Klein, the Green City Commission vice chair who heads the Reforest Richmond campaign, said their focus is “restoring the tree canopy with an equity lens.”