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Digging In To Bolster Canopy

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By PAUL CATALA, Tribune correspondent

Published: September 29, 2007

Updated: 09/27/2007 06:44 pm

TEMPLE TERRACE - Before Temple Terrace was developed, huge stands of longleaf pine trees naturally dotted the area.

Compared with 75 years ago, only a fragment of those pines and other native trees remain, many of them wiped out for the original development, temple orange groves and, over the years, by disease and old age.

There's an ongoing effort to bring many of those trees back.

On Sept. 22, residents, city officials, civic organization members and anyone else who wanted to dig in joined together in planting native trees in Temple Terrace.

For the second year, a Tampa Bay Reforestation and Environmental Effort/Esurance Temple Terrace tree-planting day was held to help bolster the canopy. The Tampa Bay Reforestation and Environmental Effort is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reforesting the Tampa Bay area, and Esurance is a direct-to-the-consumer, online auto insurance company.

This year, tree-planting volunteers and coordinators met in West River Preserve, a 5.6-acre area along the Hillsborough River on the south side of West River Drive. The preserve was acquired by the city through the state's Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program, designed to protect environmentally sensitive lands from development.

Beginning about 10 a.m., after a brief overview of the city's history and natural fauna by William Moriarty, president of the Tampa Bay Reforestation and Environmental Effort, volunteers trekked out into the preserve's open areas under a sunny sky.

Meanwhile, 38 trees were unloaded from a truck and spread out in the areas in which they were to be planted. The trees consisted of pignut hickory, longleaf pine, bald cypress, Southern magnolia, sweet bay magnolia and live oak.

After giving a demonstration on how to properly plant the trees, Temple Terrace parks planner Dana Carver, a certified arborist, pointed out areas that needed trees. 'These efforts are important, and this area provides a buffer from development,' Carver said. 'We really do appreciate what everyone's doing.'

With shovels in hand, volunteers began digging 1- to 2-foot holes for the trees, donated to the city by All Native, a plant wholesaler in San Antonio.

As Tracey Morrow held a sweet bay magnolia steady, her husband, Leonard, of the Friends of the Temple Terrace Parks and Recreation Department, filled in dirt. Next to him, their children - Heather, 18, Carissa, 14 and Noah, 9 - tossed small bags of biodegradable fertilizer and plant food into the hole.

'Now, put that all around, put your fertilizer pack in there and put the other packs on the sides,' he told his children. 'Pat the top edges down; we want to make sure it gets plenty of water. Good job.'

In 2006, 30 trees were planted during the planting day: 20 in Biltmore Park and 10 in the Broadway Outfall Park.

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