CHARLOTTE — October is Charlotte Tree Month, and Storm Water Services is using that time as a call to action to support one of the county’s most important pieces of stormwater infrastructure: our trees.
On Wednesday, environmental specialist Matthew Peine led some of the first few volunteers with the new Roots for Rivers program through some of the basics of tree maintenance.
“We’re almost training the trees to grow in the right way to give them the best chance of survival as they reach maturity,” he said.
For years, Storm Water Services has sponsored a tree-planting program along with the Charlotte Tree Fund focused on urban reforestation along Mecklenburg County’s streams called Creek ReLeaf.
Roots for Rivers allows volunteers to adopt those newly planted trees, gives them tools for mulching, weeding, and pruning, and asks them to come out twice a year to care for those trees.
“It’s really setting up those trees for success in the future,” Peine said.
In Charlotte, the flood risk is highest near our creeks and streams, which can be prone to flash flooding during intense storms. Peine said streamside trees are an important mitigation tool that only grows more effective as the trees take root.
“They stabilize the streambanks, and they also reduce flooding impacts. They can capture and eliminate stormwater pollutants as they make their way to the creek,” he said. “Roots really hold in that sediment or those banks on the side of the stream.”
There are 17 Roots for Rivers sites across the county, and Peine said Stormwater Services is still looking for volunteers for 10 of them.
Anyone interested can email STW-Volunteers@mecknc.gov.
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