If you are interested in planting trees in your neighborhood this Spring, now is the time to apply for a Neighborhood Street Tree Planting Award from PNPP. Applications are due Tuesday January 15, 2013 and require a bit of legwork in your neighborhood to complete, so act now to meet the deadline.
The Providence Neighborhood Planting Program (PNPP) is a partnership of the Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Street Tree Endowment, the City of Providence and Providence residents that plants trees in Providence neighborhoods along sidewalks. Since 1988, The Mary Elizabeth Sharpe Street Tree Endowment has matched Providence Parks Department funds to provide trees, soil, sidewalk preparation, and tree delivery at no cost to Providence residents who apply for and receive a Neighborhood Street Tree Planting Award. To date, PNPP has planted 9,530 street trees with the help of 753 neighborhood groups.
To receive street trees through the Neighborhood Street Tree Planting Award, neighborhoods will need a volunteer to complete the application and help PNPP organize the planting. Complete applications include: requests from at least five properties for at least one tree at each property within a one to two city block area and a commitment from the property owners and/or residents requesting trees to plant their tree on planting day, water the tree weekly and weed the area around the tree regularly. If a resident requesting a tree does not own the property, PNPP will need documentation of property owner consent to the tree planting.
PNPP considers Elmwood, Federal Hill, Lower and Upper South Providence, Olneyville, Reservoir, Smith Hill, Valley, Washington Park and West End neighborhoods high priority planting areas and encourages applications from these neighborhoods especially. However, all Providence neighborhoods are eligible for tree awards.
This fall, PNPP facilitated the planting of 225 street trees in the following Providence Neighborhoods: Blackstone, Charles, Elmhurst, Elmwood, Federal Hill, Reservoir, Valley, and West End.
Trees 2020 (Trees2020.org) offers low cost trees for private property planting. When PNPP applicants order a minimum of 5 trees for private property through Trees 2020, PNPP will deliver all the trees together, helping their neighborhood to plant as many trees as possible in one day.