Chris Bloch, who helped coordinate the event, said the organization’s mission is to restore the city to its status as “The Livable Forest.”
“Over the last five decades, Kingwood has lost over 10,000 trees due to disease, storms and drought,” Bloch said. “Regeneration of The Livable Forest has been retarded by a number of invasive vine species that choke off new tree growth.”
Bloch noted Trees for Kingwood is affiliated with neighboring nonprofit Trees for Houston, which has planted more than half a million trees and maintained thousands of trees throughout the Greater Houston area since its inception in 1983.
According to Bloch, Trees for Kingwood has already gathered support from several local entities, including the city of Houston Urban Forestry—which donated 100 trees for the planting event—Partnership Lake Houston, the Kingwood Garden Club, the Kingwood Rotary Club and several neighborhood associations.
“It’s great to have seven neighborhood associations come together to do this project and to plant more trees in Kingwood because over the last few months and years, we’ve lost a lot of trees, not only in our medians, but also on the outer areas,” said Dave Martin, who serves as Houston mayor pro tem and city council member for Houston’s District E, which includes Kingwood. “To see these associations come together and plant some trees that are going to be here long after we’re gone is such a good thing for the neighborhood and a good thing for the community.”
Moving forward, Bloch said Trees for Kingwood will be in search of volunteers to assist with a number of activities, including clearing areas of vines and other invasive plant species where the tree canopy has been lost in preparation for new plantings. Additionally, he said volunteers will be needed to assist with tree planting and the subsequent care of the new trees.
