The Arbor Day Foundation’s Texas Community Tree Recovery Campaign Partners With Google And Tree Folks In Blanco River Reforestation Project

“We’re grateful to Google for becoming a steward of our nation’s forests,” said Dan Lambe, Arbor Day Foundation president.

(Wimberley, TX) – The Texas Tree Recovery Campaign – a partnership between the Arbor Day Foundation and Tree Folks is planting 11,500 new trees with a project that began February 1, 2018 along the Blanco River, thanks to the generous financial support of Google.

These new trees planted by Google employees, will accelerate the recovery of the Blanco River ecosystem that was gravely damaged during the 2015 Memorial Day Floods.

“We’re grateful to Google for becoming a steward of our nation’s forests,” said Dan Lambe, Arbor Day Foundation president. “Our forests are part of the long and important legacy of the people and the land of our country. Thanks to the support of Google and its employees, thousands of trees have been planted to help clean the air, protect water resources, and restore habitat and beauty to an area that has suffered devastation.”

Arbor Day Foundation’s Community Tree Recovery, a national program underwritten by FedEx and foundation members, aims to replace trees in communities affected by natural disasters throughout the United States. The program has assisted dozens of communities with the planting or distribution of more than 4.5 million trees since its inception in 2012.

“Google Austin is so excited to work alongside the Arbor Foundation and Tree Folks to jumpstart this restoration effort. We take pride in the community we call home and want the great state of Texas to remain a place that everyone can enjoy. Google volunteers were eager to get their hands dirty and wanted to do their part to help bring the Blanco River back to life,” said Gerardo Interiano, Head of External Affairs Southwest Region.

During Memorial Day weekend of 2015 the Blanco River region experienced vast flooding. This event is part of Trees for the Blanco, which accelerates recovery of the Blanco River ecosystem by providing comprehensive reforestation services to landowners affected by the flooding. This is a multi-year reforestation campaign to plant a diversity of native species along the Blanco in Hays County. Volunteers will plant seedlings this winter which provide important environmental benefits to the Hays County community and will help reduce damage from future flood events.

“In the months since the devastating Memorial Day floods, our community has shown its incredible resilience,” said State Rep. Jason Isaac (R-Dripping Springs). “I’m grateful to these outstanding nonprofits for stepping up to help replenish native trees and keep the banks of the Blanco River a beautiful and stable ecosystem.”  

To donate to the recovery efforts supported by this campaign or other across the country please visit www.arborday.org/recovery.  

Pictures:

Google employees came together with local community volunteers and Texas Representative Jason Isaac (R-Dripping Springs) to help plant the first 1,200 trees as part of the Texas Tree Recovery Program.

Slide 3: State Rep. Jason Isaac, Erin Gurak with TreeFolks and Andreina Alexatos with TreeFolks.

About the Arbor Day Foundation 

The Arbor Day Foundation is a million-member nonprofit conservation and education organization with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. More information is available at arborday.org.

About TreeFolks

TreeFolks empowers Central Texans to build stronger communities through planting and caring for trees.  Since 1989, TreeFolks has engaged thousands of volunteers to plant more than 2.5 million trees on public and private lands. These trees provide clean air and water, habitat for wildlife, and shelter from the hot Texas sun. Through volunteerism, participants deepen their connection to their environment and the Central Texas community. 

About Google

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.