New Trees for an Ancient Forest

I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment

Volunteers have begun planting the first of 10,000 trees in one of Florida's National Wildlife Refuges. That may sound ambitious, but organizers say it's just the tip of the iceberg--they hope 200,000 trees are planted in coming years to help restore their part of Florida's ancient forests. John Marshall is spearheading the effort in Palm Beach County's Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (John Arthur Marshall, President and CEO, Arthur R. Marshall Foundation)...

"There was a huge amount of trees that constituted Florida's ancient forests. They've been wiped out by development. Specifically, Cypress trees were used to build some of the big hotels."

This newly started project hopes to begin replacement of the harvested trees...

"We are going to plant 10,000 Cypress trees and related species, specifically Pond Apple and Red Maple that are characteristic of these Cypress swamps."

John Marshall heads up the Arthur R. Marshall foundation--named for his uncle, a noted Florida environmentalist...

"There's no direct adressal of reforestation as part of Everglades restoration. So we decided to take that on as something that we could actually get done in two to 20 years of the project lifetime."

I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment

Volunteers say their planting of 10,000 native trees in a National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County is just the beginning. The project, headed up by John Marshall, is underway at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge (John Arthur Marshall, President and CEO, Arthur R. Marshall Foundation)...

"It does sound like a serious undertaking, but actually, it turns out in our perspective not to be that big, because what we really need to do to reforest the acreage in the refuge... we need to plant about 200,000 trees over 400 acres during the course of the next five years or so."

The planting starts replacement of a forest harvested for early development and construction in the area..

"This is just a baby project--a demonstration project--to kind of establish a nursery to get more trees and plant the 200,000 trees that it will take to reforest the area in the refuge where the trees have been removed."

Marshall says the initial 10,000 trees will help the ecosystem... and they'll stimulate interest...

"We think that will induce other groups to get on the bandwagon, as well as government, to start restoring the trees that have been removed."

I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment.

As volunteers began planting 10,000 native trees in a National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County, organizers are thrilled with what's begun. Nancy Marshall helped start the planting in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, and says as it is happening, it is nothing short of a miracle (Nancy Marshall, Director of Marketing, Arthur R. Marshall Foundation)...

"We've gotten money, anonymously, to purchase trees, we've had other people come through with grants that we'd just lost all hope for. We started with 28 volunteers the first weekend of September when we harvested about 200 pounds of Cypress seeds. That was our beginning of our volunteer base. We now are up to almost 500 people."

Even as they learned they would not be able to receive trees from the National Tree Trust, the planting planning continued...

"If we were going to restore ancient forests, (the trees) had to be native to our state. So that meant we could not use the trees that were going to be given to use from the National Tree Trust."

But somehow, Marshall says, the turn of events kept favoring the all-volunteer tree planting...

"Six months ago, we didn't have the money to do this, we didn't have any volunteers, and we had no trees. This has been a miracle."

I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment.

In what is said to be one of the largest private, all-volunteer environmental projects in Florida history, a group has begun the planting of 10,000 trees in a national wildlife refuge in Palm Beach County to replace those harvested for early development. John Marshall heads up the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation, which has organized the plantings...

"There's no grassroots organization that's completely all-volunteer that's taken on a project of this complexity."

Marshall says it took a private effort to come up with a plan for a natural, low-tech, solution...

"The scientists have identified the literally thousands of trees that have been wiped out, especially a big forest just south of Lake Okechobee. But the tendency of the government seems to be on high-tech, high-cost solutions rather than natural solutions."

Though being private avoids some complications, Marshall says it brings its own challenges...

"I would say right up at the top was working with the Federal Government to get this done, and finding the private funding as opposed to government funding to get it done, so as to involve the citizens more so than they have been."

I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment

A group that spearheaded the planting of 10,000 trees in a National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Beach County says it can only hope the trees grow as fast and as strong as their organizing effort did. John Marshall helped start the project to restore the forest in a refuge named for his uncle--environmentalist Arthur R. Marshall's name precedes that of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge...

"We are involving people that never would have been involved in Everglades restoration--they would have read about it in the papers. There are people coming out that are not members of any environmental group--they're just Joe Citizens that want to make a difference."

Nancy Marshall says the tree planting has captured the spirit of the community...

"We live in a community where there are a lot of charitable donations given each year and there are tremendous balls and charity events. So when we came along and started speaking to the community, it was kind of 'Tree planting? Are these two real tree huggers?'"

And from that early curiosity, came later support...

"Now it's so funny because we see these same people coming forward and calling us on the phone and saying, 'I just want to come and plant a tree.'"