GRANITE CITY 鈥� A project to bring more greenery and native plant habitats in the Metro East will also help companies beyond the region offset their carbon footprint.
The Granite City Cool Cities Committee has added about 150 trees to a historic wetland in the community and through a grant with the nonprofit Trees Forever, the community will be able to sell the credits for the carbon dioxide they capture to companies looking to offset their carbon use.
鈥淲e鈥檙e planting trees anyway, and this way you鈥檙e getting money back from those trees to continue to care and plant more trees over the years,鈥� said Emily Ehley, a field coordinator for Trees Forever.
Ehley explained that the city owns the land where the trees are planted, but that the nonprofit manages the sale of carbon credits produced by the new trees and sends that money back to a community, in this case Granite City.
鈥淚t鈥檚 incentivizing the city to plant more trees and create a greener urban landscape,鈥� she said.
Larger U.S. cities have been able to do this type of sale, but Ehley explained it鈥檚 not as feasible for smaller communities. Under the grant, cities must also maintain the new trees for 26 years to ensure their canopy grows, she added.
To Carole Valencia, a member of Granite City鈥檚 Cool City Committee, the grant opportunity was serendipitous with a spot of land the Sierra Club had converted from agricultural use back to native habitat.
鈥淚t just happened to come together where we found out that this site exists and Emily came to us,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e thought it was a perfect place to plant some trees.鈥�
The Morrison Road Reforestation Site in northeast Granite City now has an array of young trees including pecans, swamp-white oaks, burr oaks, elderberries, chokeberries and others.
鈥淏asically we have our big shade trees and then we have some of those smaller flowering, berry-creating things, which are going to be beautiful and great for our pollinators and birds too,鈥� Ehley said.
The growing canopy will also help to manage excess water from rain storms, she said.
鈥淎ny time you have a tree, it鈥檚 soaking up water by its roots, slowing down stormwater,鈥� Ehley said. 鈥淭his will be like a sink both of water and of carbon for the area.鈥�
It鈥檚 also important since the area is part of the American Bottoms flood plain, Valencia said.
鈥淲e need to be more resilient with climate change looming,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e probably going to keep getting these rainstorms that we have several inches of water in a short period of time.鈥�
Both Valencia and Ehley said they want to see other local communities participate in programs like this one, which Granite City is the first to do in the Metro East.
鈥淎lthough it will help this area quite a bit, it鈥檚 going to take more than just us planting these trees here,鈥� Valencia said.
Eric Schmid covers the Metro East for 漏 2024 外网天堂 as part of the journalism grant program: , an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.
