City of Lake Charles, Louisiana

 

The City of Lake Charles will be giving away 500 trees to the public on Saturday, March 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Downtown Community Garden, 600 Ryan Street, as part of the Planning and Development Department program called, "reTREE LC." Tree varieties available to the public will include live oaks, crape myrtles, and bald cypress. Trees are one gallon size and will be given away on a first come, first serve basis, one tree per vehicle.

The mission of reTREE LC is to promote the planting, restoration, and preservation of an urban forest in the City of Lake Charles. The City has received three grants to support reTREE LC including the Apache Foundation Tree Grant, a Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Urban and Community Forestry Grant, a Wal-Mart grant and funding from Team Green of Southwest Louisiana.

The City of Lake Charles recently received 1,000 trees from the Apache Foundation Tree Grant Program, and 500 of the trees are for the trees giveaway event. The other 500 trees are to be planted in City parks by members of the Boy Scouts of America and other organizations.

The grants will support the mission of reTREE LC and will provide watering bags for the trees planted in City parks, T-shirts to promote reTREE LC projects, and expert demonstrations on tree pruning.

City of Lake Charles employees and their immediate family will not be allowed to participate in this tree giveaway program.