We wanted to extend a big thank you to all those who came out to help us plant trees near Kelvyn Park on Saturday November 5th. We helped to settle an incredible 42 trees into their new homes....the Hermosa community!!!! Combined with our earlier tree planting in the spring, we have planted a total of 64 trees in Hermosa in 2016....WOW!

These trees included various red oaks, chinquapin oaks, catalpas, sweet gums, lindens, and bur oaks. These trees are going to make a HUGE difference to our community for years to come!!!!

Here are a few of the benefits they will provide:

• Each tree will intercept about 159 gallons of stormwater runoff per year. This means an additional 10,494 gallons of water will be stored in Hermosa each year. This will reduce soil erosion, flooding, and help minimize the amount of pollutants washed into nearby aquatic ecosystems.

• Each tree will conserve 9 kilowatt hours of energy per year by providing shade to nearby buildings and reducing wind speeds in the area. This means a total of 576 kilowatt hour conserved in Hermosa per year!

• Each tree will reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2, a greenhouse gas) by 42lbs a year. This means a total of 2,772 lbs of CO2 will be reduced by the trees we've helped plant!

Caring for and expanding the green spaces in Hermosa is crucial for both the health of the environment, and the health of our community as a whole.

Thank you again for your hard work, and we hope to see you at another planting and tree maintenance session soon.

Thank you to the 100+ participants who came out to help plant these trees. A big, big thank you to Openlands for accepting our grant, supplying the trees, Treekeepers, tools, and know-how.  Thank you to Michigan State University, Kelvyn Park High School and Kelvyn Park Advisory Council for bringing so many volunteers! Thank you Alderman Milly Santiago - 31st Ward for water and for supplies and handy help from Phil the Ward Superintendent.

And a big BIG thank you to La Central Bakery (4348 W. Armitage Ave, 773- 252-7302) for their generous donation of delicious sandwiches and cookies. Awesome job everyone!

An additional shout out to Chicago Park District for providing tools and mulch, and to the City of Chicago for providing permits.  

Feel free to visit Openlands' Facebook (www.facebook.com/openlandschicago) to see additonal pictures and videos from this event.

If you would like to get more involved in Openlands, please check out more information, here: http://www.openlands.org/what-we-do-page-8.php