The Onalaska Tree Recovery Program is a partnership between the Arbor Day Foundation, SageSure and Piney Wood Lakes Master Naturalists (PWLMN) distributed 640 trees on Friday, October 8 at the Onalaska City Park Pavilion. The most deeply impacted residents, those who lost most of their property received up to 15 free three- and five-gallon trees to replace some of the thousands lost to the 2020 tornado.
PWLTMN received an $11,500 grant from The Arbor Day Foundation through a donation by SageSure for the purchase of the native regional trees – Shumard and live oaks, red maple, river birch, cedar elm, redbud, and bottlebrush myrtles. Polk Ag Agent Matthew March worked with the master naturalists to secure the grant.
“Our local master naturalists are pleased to have this opportunity to offer a small degree of progress to the Onalaska properties owners that lost so much,” said Ron Diderich, co-president of Piney Wood Lakes Master Naturalists. “The fast-growing native evergreen and flowering trees distributed should help to restore some of the lost canopy in the area.”
Following the giveaway, an additional 110 trees were divided between four of the most heavily impacted subdivisions to replace some of the trees lost in their common areas.