BRG says ‘May the Forest Be With You’ on May 4th with 1,000 FREE Trees, sponsored by Enterprise

Baton Rouge, La. – Baton Rouge Green is say­ing ​‘May the for­est be with you’ this May the 4^th by dis­trib­ut­ing 1,000 trees to area res­i­dents. These new trees, in three-gal­lon con­tain­ers, will be free of charge and help to replace trees dam­aged and destroyed by the 2016 flood, as well as help pre­pare for future weath­er events. The event is part of a pro­gram, the Enter­prise Urban Ini­tia­tive, spon­sored by the Enter­prise Rent-A-Car Foundation.

This tree dis­tri­b­u­tion is designed to help these affect­ed res­i­dents replace trees lost to the flood­ing. Baton Rouge Green staff and Enter­prise Rent-A-Car vol­un­teers will be dis­trib­ut­ing the trees with plant­i­ng kits from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Good­wood Library. Trees are lim­it­ed to 2 per household.

All eight vari­eties of trees to be dis­trib­uted are native species to South Louisiana: Cypress, Red­bud, White Oak, Wil­low Oak, Dahoon Hol­ly, Green Ash, Swamp Red Maple, and Sweet­bay Magnolia.

The Enter­prise Rent-A-Car Foun­da­tion – the phil­an­thropic arm of Enter­prise Rent-A-Car – is pledg­ing $2 mil­lion over the next two years to fund 40 com­mu­ni­ty tree plant­i­ng events hap­pen­ing around the coun­try. This dona­tion is in addi­tion to Enterprise’s ongo­ing part­ner­ship with the Arbor Day Foun­da­tion, known as the 50 Mil­lion Tree Pledge. Estab­lished in hon­or of the company’s 50^th anniver­sary, the pro­gram funds the plant­i­ng of 50 mil­lion trees through­out the U.S., Cana­da, France, Ger­many, Spain and the U.K.

The Enter­prise Urban Ini­tia­tive builds on Enter­prise Hold­ings’ com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing com­mu­ni­ties affect­ed by hur­ri­canes, tor­na­does, wild­fires, floods, hail­storms and oth­er nat­ur­al dis­as­ters. Each project is indi­vid­u­al­ly select­ed to pri­or­i­tize imme­di­ate refor­esta­tion needs and to help restore ecosys­tems after nat­ur­al dis­as­ters strike.

Between August 11 and August 14, 2016, more than 20 inch­es of rain fell in the region around Baton Rouge, LA. This del­uge led to the flood­ing of more than 60,000 homes and the loss of 13 lives.

“The 2016 floods dam­aged homes and prop­er­ties, and had a pro­found impact on our envi­ron­ment,” Said Robert See­mann, ISA, Direc­tor of Oper­a­tions for Baton Rouge Green. ​“With this tree give­away, Baton Rouge Green hopes to con­tin­ue to help off­set land­scape dam­ages and canopy loss in our area. Trees are also a cru­cial tool for stormwa­ter man­age­ment and remov­ing pol­lu­tants from our soil and air.”

“This is about more than heal­ing the land. Plant­i­ng trees heals peo­ple and brings fam­i­lies togeth­er, espe­cial­ly in the wake of a cri­sis. It a sym­bol for bench­mark­ing a chap­ter of life, putting down our own roots (pun intend­ed) and grow­ing for­ward,” said Sage Foley, Baton Rouge Green Exec­u­tive Director.

For more infor­ma­tion about the tree give­away, see baton​rouge​green​.com.

About the Arbor Day Foun­da­tion: Found­ed in 1972, the Arbor Day Foun­da­tion has grown to become the largest non­prof­it mem­ber­ship orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to plant­i­ng trees, with more than one mil­lion mem­bers, sup­port­ers, and val­ued part­ners. Their vision is to help oth­ers under­stand and use trees as a solu­tion to many of the glob­al issues we face today, includ­ing air qual­i­ty, water qual­i­ty, cli­mate change, defor­esta­tion, pover­ty and hunger. As one of the world’s largest oper­at­ing con­ser­va­tion foun­da­tions, the Arbor Day Foun­da­tion edu­cates and engages stake­hold­ers and com­mu­ni­ties across the globe to involve them­selves in its mis­sion of plant­i­ng, nur­tur­ing and cel­e­brat­ing trees. More infor­ma­tion is avail­able at arbor​day​.org.

About Baton Rouge Green: Baton Rouge Green is a 501©3 orga­ni­za­tion which leads, edu­cates and inspires the plant­i­ng and sus­tain­ing of urban forests and green spaces. The orga­ni­za­tion is sup­port­ed in large part by ded­i­cat­ed Baton Rouge com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers, and local busi­ness­es and indus­try. Find out more at Baton​Rouge​Green​.com.