Plant a tree in Rockville Centre this spring

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From now through April 30, RVC Conservancy is taking tree orders in the village’s residential areas as part of the third annual “Tackling Trees” initiative.

RVC Conservancy is a community-based organization focused on environmental causes in Rockville Centre. The members participate in lake and park cleanups and gardening and host an annual kayaking event at Hempstead Lake, as well as the annual “Tackling Trees” project.

Through the program, residents can purchase trees for their front lawn at $315 per tree, including a one-year replacement guarantee. This is one of two opportunities villagers have to purchase new trees — the village offers the other in the fall.

“There’s lots of research around the benefits of street trees,” said Matt Cliszis, member of RVC Conservancy. “There’s more CO2 so it’s better for the environment, but it also [results in] energy savings and increased property value.”

The group launched the tree initiative in 2018 when it discovered that many Bradford Pear trees in the village were diseased. Since then, more than 100 diseased pear trees were removed and replaced with about 100 new trees.

In addition, the conservancy organization helped the village receive a state grant for a tree survey, which was recently completed and now under review. An outside vendor surveyed all village-responsible trees, and its results could allow the village to acquire additional grants for environmental projects, Cliszis said.

He added that one finding of the survey is the importance of diversification, which is a primary goal of “Tackling Trees.” “We’ve learned that when you have too many of one species, it becomes problematic,” he noted. “So we will offer different trees to diversify the stock.”

The types of trees available to purchase are:

Japanese Lilac

Thundercloud Plum

Kwanzan Cherry

Yoshino Cherry

Schubert Cherry

Greenspire Linden

Zelkova

Londonplane

Parrotia

Yellowwood

Once the orders are in, trees will be planted in May. To purchase a tree, visit rvcconservancy.org/tacklingtrees.