Volunteers To Plant Thousands Of Trees In Detroit

DETROIT (WWJ) - Go green this weekend in Detroit.

It's not a rally for the Michigan State Spartans, but a big tree-planting event in the Warrendale neighborhood on the city's west side.

WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke Friday with Dean Hay with "Greening of Detroit," which will gather hundreds of volunteers to plant the trees.

"The Greening of Detroit is bribing investment to a lot of the neighborhoods that had lost urban canopy through our emerald ash borer that recently came through and even is replacing the trees that 20 or 30 years ago were lost to the elm disease, as well, the Dutch elm disease," said Hay.

Why is this important?

"Beautification is the immediate benefit of it, but it also helps with air quality, helps to reduce crime rates, increase property value," he said. "And when trees are placed in the right place they can also provide shade and reduce the energy costs."

Hay said this is the first of several weekends of tree plantings around the city this fall. A total of 7,000 seedlings will be planted.