LISLE, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Morton Arboretum has announced plans to have 3,000 trees planted in the Chicago area over the next year in honor of Earth Day, the Arboretum’s own 100th birthday and the upcoming 150th anniversary of Arbor Day.
To get real climate benefits like cooling and carbon reduction, municipalities need at least a 40 percent tree canopy, according to Lydia Scott, director of the Chicago Region Trees Initiative of the arboretum.
But, Scott said the average tree canopy in municipalities nationwide is 27 percent while the tree canopy in the Chicago area is at 23 percent. It’s much lower than that in the city itself-16 percent.
Arboretum President and CEO Gerry Donnelly said 21 varieties of trees will be planted in areas that need them most.
“The Arboretum knows what to do and where they’re needed the most. We conducted an extensive tree census throughout the seven-county Chicago region in 2020," he said.
“Trees do so many different things. It’s hard to think of anything else that returns so many more benefits than planting trees so why don’t we do more of that?"
Three hundred of the 3,000 will go to homeowners who lost trees in a tornado that swept through the western suburbs last year in Naperville, Woodridge, Darien and Downers Grove Township.
The first of the trees planted were put in the ground at the Morton Arboretum, itself. It was specially produced from a tall shade-producing linden tree about 100 yards away.
“It came from Poland, actually,[from] another arboretum in the early 30s and they didn’t know exactly where it came from but it has some distinctive features that we like," Donnelly said.
Those features include being more resilient to threats like climate change, pests like the emerald ash borer and diseases.
The Centennial linden and 20 other varieties of trees will be planted throughout the Chicago area between this month and May 2023.
Joining Donnelly at the tree-planting announcement were Congressman Sean Casten and Congressman Bill Foster.
The tree-planting effort was to have been only 1,000 trees, but the arboretum said that thanks to a major gift from Susan and Stephen Baird, 2,000 more trees will be planted.
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