By Cheryl Allen
“It’s just stuff, it’s all replaceable,” people said after the March 31 tornado destroyed their homes and property earlier in the year, a sentiment that expressed their gratitude that no lives were lost in the disaster went. However, animal life was lost and perhaps often overlooked, as was tree life.
Melanie Schweitzer felt the loss of her trees after the tornado destroyed her and husband Mike’s property and narrowly missed their home in Wellman. What had once been a lush and shadowy area of their backyard became a wasteland that took days to clean up with the generous help of others.
As a landscape architect providing services through her company Flora, Schweitzer was able to plant new trees in the newly bare patches that spring, but found her neighbors were unable to do so. She appreciated the help she received from others after the storm so much that she wanted to keep paying it; Regarding how to do that, she thought, “I can plant trees. Let’s try to raise some money and plant trees for the people who lost them.”
The end result of this thought is the New Roots Music Festival and Tornado Fundraiser on Sunday, July 16 from 4-7pm at the Wellman Bandshell. Bad Angle Events helped Schweitzer round up the Young Ramblers, Ryne Doughty and Old Man Band for a performance, and food and drink will be available for purchase. Freewill donations will be used to purchase and plant trees on seven tornado-damaged Washington County homesteads.
“It’s really a loss that I feel deeply,” Schweitzer says of her old trees. They provided shade and wind protection, not to mention their air-purifying, carbon-storing, and anti-anxiety superpowers. “It’s almost a sadness,” she admits.
Schweitzer hopes to raise $2,000 per homestead to wholesale buy 10 shade and windbreak trees that volunteers would help plant in the fall. She made shortlists of evergreen and shade trees that would best withstand the environmental conditions they must endure, such as exposure to agricultural herbicides, deer grazing and drought. With a bit of luck, trees such as white pine or Norway spruce, ginkgo or river birch will have grown so far in five to ten years that they can fill the gap.
It’s easy for Schweitzer to think about trees, to organize a fundraiser, especially not. “It’s a lot more complicated than I could have ever imagined,” she says.
To make donations tax-deductible, Schweitzer has partnered with Trees Forever, an Iowa-based 501(c)3 charity that facilitates tree planting grants for communities and has established an account to receive donations. From there, the funds will be sent to Wellman Rotary, who has fundraising experience and will distribute the funds.
To identify families who could use tree replacement help, Schweitzer reached out to Marissa Reisen, the Washington County emergency management coordinator, who reached out to those with tornado-damaged properties.
It is interesting to note that most home and farm insurance policies do not cover the cost of removing or replacing trees. It costs thousands of dollars to plant a few new trees and tens of thousands of dollars to use excavators and bulldozers to clean up trees downed by a storm.
As Schweitzer recognizes, it means a lot when a community helps rebuild after a disaster.
“People were [generous] with their time to help us clean up. We had a lot of people out there to help us walk the fields and clean up the yard,” says Schweitzer. “We just feel like we want to return the favor in some way.”
If you are unable to attend the New Roots Music Festival and Tornado fundraiser on Sunday, July 16 from 4-7pm at the Wellman Band, you can donate to secure.givelively.org or send checks to Trees Forever, 80 W 8th Ave., Marion, IA 52302 (also list Washington County Tornado Tree Restoration in the note line).
If you would like to help plant trees this fall, contact Melanie Schweitzer at 319-631-5328 or melanie@farmfreshflora.com.
thenews-ia.com
http://thenews-ia.com/stories/music-festival-to-raise-funds-for-post-tornado-tree-replacement,73205
