During the '80s and the '90s, I was a journalist living in Salt Lake City and concurrently, I had started a non-profit organization that taught tree planting and tree stewardship, tree aftercare, in urbanized areas. So I ended up working all around the state. It was called TreeUtah. At the same time, our daughter was dancing with a University of Utah affiliated organization for children, and Pete Seeger was coming to town. I knew in advance that Pete Seeger was coming to Salt Lake City in the spring of 1994 to sing with a performance of the Children's Dance Theatre at the University of Utah. I wrote, requesting that he would write a song for the purpose of tree planting. A couple of months later, when he came to town, I received a phone call saying, "Could you go and pick up Pete? He’s staying up at the Alta Lodge," and I was so excited, you know, I went up first thing in the morning. Pete came to the door and said, "Oh, Pepper, nice to meet you, I've got something for you." And he said, "I read your letter, and last night, 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning,” evidently he was moved sufficiently to... to wake up and write this song. I attach the letter I wrote, hoping to inspire him to write a song for that 25th anniversary of Earth Day, and the three-page song, I Am the Tree You Plant. 25 years later, just before the 50th Earth Day anniversary, I brought the song to Antique Roadshow and they featured it. 

Pepper heard it has been subsequently, played as far away as China. Over the years, Pete Seeger used his voice for world peace and environmental conservation. And he always encouraged us all to sing along. For reminding us where we come from and showing us where we need to go, we will always be grateful to Pete Seeger and his contribution to planting trees and building community. 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/20/tucson-az/appraisals/1994-pete-seeger-original-song-manuscript--201501A22/

We always welcome helping hands at the EcoGarden located next door to the Day Riverside Library at 1575 West 1000 North, TreeUtah’s EcoGarden is a community resource along the Jordan River in Rose Park that demonstrates how we can utilize trees in urban landscapes for gardening, food, and to benefit our social and natural environments.

There are a number of different projects in need of volunteers at the EcoGarden such as watering, weeding, mulching, composting, maintaining the guilds, and picking up trash. If you are interested in being part of the EcoGarden community, please contact us. EcoGarden workdays will be posted on the events calendar. Please check dates and listings frequently in Spring/Summer/Fall.

We have met so many wonderful volunteers and interesting groups of people who organize to come out to help plant. Some are small hiking groups all the way to large corporations, and then back to a small scouting group, looking to do good and give back to the community! Tree Planting is a fun and unique way to give back to the local community and make Utah a healthier, greener place to live, work, and play. Your business, church group, or community group is welcome to join us at one of our public tree plantings (for free!). Alternatively, you can sponsor your own special event. Many businesses choose to sponsor a planting or stewardship project as an annual team-building event or community service project. 

Setting up special events and purchasing trees requires a lot of time and effort. The required minimum donation to sponsor tree plantings will be based on the number of trees to be planted. Each event is different depending on your vision and budget. We are excited to work with you and see your ideas come to life!

Events include the following benefits to your organization

• Choose your own date and time
• Recognition of your commitment to sustainability on social media, press releases, and on our website and e-newsletter
• Team building by spending a few hours outdoors at a beautiful location
• Your team just needs to show up ready to plant and we do the rest; even including coffee and bagels if you want.
• You will get dirty and tired, but leave inspired!

Teams will help plant large landscape trees in public places such as parks and other open spaces or for restoration volunteers will assist in planting native seedlings to restore natural ecosystems. To learn more about participating in a tree planting, please contact us.

“All of us at TreeUtah are saddened by the devastating loss of trees during the storm, but it just heightens our dedication to plant as many trees as possible toward a healthy urban forest. The trees we plant now will provide a better quality of life in Salt Lake City for generations.” -Amy May, TU Executive Director

Trees in Salt Lake City parks were hit especially hard during the storm, with Liberty Park losing 69 trees and the Salt Lake City Cemetery losing 255 trees.

Donors to ReTree SLC have the ability to make single donations or sign up for an ongoing monthly contribution, and they can specify that their donation go towards replanting in a specific park, or wherever a tree is needed most.

Funds raised will directly help purchase trees that are selected to be hardy in the city’s urban environment for generations to come.

ReTree SLC will also include a volunteer effort through TreeUtah for the public to assist in planting trees. Everyone who contributes will be informed of planting opportunities via email and all TreeUtah events HERE.

Donations can be made to TreeUtah by clicking HERE!

By Michelle Deininger

When TreeUtah prides itself on the carnival-like atmosphere that surrounds its tree planting events. Since forming in 1989, they’ve included music, food, extra tools and gear to share, and leaders who educate volunteers—often 50-100 people—about trees and climate issues.

“We ultimately are about getting trees in the ground to sequester carbon, and creating inclusive events so people can come and learn and grow along with the trees they help plant,” said TreeUtah Executive Director Amy May.

As one of Park City Community Foundation’s Climate Fund grantees this year, TreeUtah is now building on that legacy while adapting to 2020’s Covid restrictions (no food, no tool-sharing, masks, and smaller groups). It’s all for a good cause.

Park City is part of a coalition of mountain towns working together to aggressively reduce carbon emissions to net-zero by the year 2030. The capacity of trees to sequester carbon from the atmosphere as they grow makes tree planting an important process in the age of climate warming.

Using its $50,000 grant, TreeUtah has hosted educational community events throughout Summit County. In spring they planted 27 Narrowleaf Cottonwoods in East Canyon Creek, and “virtually” planted trees at schools with teachers working while students watched by video.

For Earth Day, they gave trees away, then supervised their planting in residential yards and park strips. And in a partnership with Park City High School, students helped plant 200 trees and woody perennials around campus in August. More projects are planned for fall.

“The grant has helped us connect with the community in a much broader way than we could have little by little,” May said. “It’s allowed us to prioritize plantings in Summit County.”

Just how much does planting trees help the climate? The exact amount of carbon sequestration per tree planted on earth varies by species, size, location, and other factors. The U.S. Forest Service uses this rule of thumb: Every mature tree cools the planet as much as 20 room-sized air conditioners every day.

Tree planting also adds to natural beauty, and connects residents to their environment as a living, breathing entity, May said. She is excited about TreeUtah’s growth, and urges community members to “get involved however you can, even if you don’t want to get that dirty. Do something meaningful!”

The Park City Climate Fund was established in 2019 to foster high-impact projects in greater Park City that have the potential to make a lasting impact here and have the ability to scale in other mountain communities. The first Climate Fund grants were awarded in February 2020 to Recycle Utah, TreeUtah, and Utah Clean Energy, and more will be coming soon.

This ever-evolving EcoGarden was first laid out in 2005, under the direction of renowned permaculture expert and author, the late Toby Hemenway and former TreeUtah director Vaughn Lovejoy. Since then it has been sustained by dedicated volunteers, neighbors and TreeUtah staff. The land the garden sits on was originally intended as an overflow retention basin for the Jordan River. When TreeUtah decided to do an EcoGarden, they considered putting it at Bend in the River Park along the Provo-Jordan River Parkway Trail. However, the land was too toxic with mercury and lead to grow anything edible. The plot by the Day-Riverside library seemed to be the perfect solution.

The guiding principle of permaculture is to cultivate food, medicine, and other useful plants in harmony with and in imitation of the surrounding ecosystem. Traditional farming techniques prioritize annual plants and require a continual input of nutrients, pesticides, and new plants, permaculture relies on a thoughtful mix perennials to create a more closed self-regulating and sustainable system.

The garden is designed around fourteen guilds or smaller plant communities. These are each centered around a fruit or nut tree. Each tree is planted with a specific mix of shrubs, flowers, grasses, herbs, and native plants that complement one another through their unique characteristics. Some plants might fix nitrogen in the soil, making it available to the surrounding plants. While others perhaps attract pollinators that will benefit the entire group. A third species may discourage pests or invasive plants with the scent of its flowers or the oils in its leaves.

Additionally, the guilds are designed to maximize water retention, by slowing evaporation and runoff called Swales. Swales are ditches dug along the contour of the land, so as water runs downward, it is caught on the formation, and moisture is more effectively contained. Many of the plants are also drought-resistant, meaning the garden can survive (and even thrive) with minimal watering and even go long periods without any surface water at all. The irrigation that is in place is a drip system that delivers water directly to the plants root systems.

Finally, and most importantly, the EcoGarden is a community gathering space. The area is not fenced off from the neighborhood. Rather it is an inviting space, with benches, picnic tables, and a shade structure grown over with grapevines. We encourage residents of the neighborhood to utilize the space for gatherings, quiet contemplation, and of course as a source of food.

The library brings children into the garden for storytime. Nearby elementary schools bring students for outdoor lunches. Garden maintenance and upkeep is done by volunteers. TreeUtah holds regular workshops on topics ranging from tree pruning, to mason bees, to uses of medicinal herbs. A healthy ecosystem necessarily includes the people who live in it, join us in our work in creating sustainable communities. Contact volunteer@treeutah.org

• Care of the Earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply.
• Care of people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence
• Return of surplus: to those two goals. If there is extra of something, use it either to help people or help the Earth. Never waste it. 

Let's assume we all care for the earth and want a more sustainable world. Recently we all saw the positive side effects on the environment due to the limitations the Covid19 virus set upon society. Less pollution and energy consumption was a strange and positive test we were all thrown into which let us see how our actions affect our environment.

With that in mind, we are then curious to explore other areas that might create long lasting and positive affects. Premaculture may not at first seem an obvious area of interest to organizations like TreeUtah, who strives to build a thriving urban tree canopy. Wouldn't any old leafy tree do? Yet, when we delve deeper into this area we start to notice that we can always take things further and not only reduce heat island effects but also create usable food sources for a fully integrated community plan. 

Could the answer be in planting "Forest Gardens?" We know the foundations of permaculture but what is a forest garden?

One of the best explanations are found here, "A forest garden is a garden that is designed to mimic the interrelationships that exist in a natural woodland environment. Wild trees, shrubs, groundcover and vines all grow together in a symbiotic fashion that requires no additional fertilizer, water, pest or disease control other than what the plants provide for themselves. In Permaculture these small groups are called guilds, and when you put many guilds together you in turn get a forest garden.

Picture the tallest trees planted to the north, then moving south, smaller trees with vines growing on them, then herbs and finally some ground cover. Since the tallest trees are to the north, all elements of the garden are stepped down in size to receive adequate sunlight from the southern sun." https://www.growforagecookferment.com/permaculture-forest-garden/

So, from here we see there are ways to take tree planting further. We can plan better ways forward to make the most beneficial use of our lands and how we can maximize the benefits for communities. Let us commit to planting trees in ways that invite us to engage in and to feel and taste the place we live in.

Can you think of a place that brings back memories of green space and local food? Maybe a walk along a path where you picked a sun sweetened stone fruit. When we plant with intention, we create a more diverse and engaging landscape. We see not only plants thriving but humans too.

There are many resources for learning more about permaculture. If you are interested in how to support more forest gardens in your area contact TreeUtah or visit

https://permaculture.usu.edu/index