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Chapter 7 | Private Trees: The Plan for Yard Trees
Private Trees:
The Plan for Yard Trees
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“If half of American lawns were replaced with native plants, we would create the equivalent of a 20 million acre national park; nine times bigger than Yellowstone, or 100 times bigger than Shenandoah National Park” - Doug Tallamy
R
eLeaf Cedar Rapids is not just a plan for the City to plant trees. If it were, it would be
missing 85 percent of the opportunity. Of the roughly 670,000 trees lost to the derecho, only about 100,000 were on City land. The remainder were private; sheltering house yards, corporate and institutional campuses, and private open spaces like cemeteries and golf courses. Growing back the private canopy is the most important part of this plan. It is covered in this chapter and Chapter 8: The Plan for Institutional Trees. Like in many midsize cities, the single largest land use in Cedar Rapids is the front, back, and side yards of single-family houses. These yards are where the derecho exerted its greatest impact, and where we can stage the quickest, most impactful recovery. In the year since the storm, hundreds of residents have already replanted, many taking advantage of tree adoptions sponsored by generous donors. But most have not. This plan hopes to inspire that action and maximize its impact.
