Kentucky Group Swamped With Requests For Seedlings

The desire to replace trees damaged by November’s ice storm is so strong that a Kentucky organization is extending its disaster program for Inland Northwest residents.

David Wright of the Ecology Crossroads Arbor Day Disaster Aid office in Berea, Ky., said that program has received more than 700 requests from this region in the last two weeks.

The requests followed a mention of the disaster program on March 3 in The Public Periscope, a weekly column of The Spokesman-Review.

“We’re getting an amazing response - 79 alone today,” Wright said late last week.

Residents of regions hit by natural disasters can request 25 Colorado blue spruce seedlings. The trees, between 8 inches and 16 inches tall, are shipped with fertilizer, root starter and packets of vegetables or flowers.

The trees are free. Residents pay $12.60 for the cost of shipping and handling.

The program was scheduled to end March 21, but Wright said the foundation is extending it until April 15 for residents of Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

An application for the Disaster Relief Trees is available by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to Arbor Day Disaster Aid, P.O. Box 231, Berea, Ky., 40403. An application is also available on the Internet at www.freetrees.com, and clicking on the spot for forms for special programs.

The trees are available to anyone who has been involved in any disaster, Wright said.

The program has its roots in an ice storm that hit Kentucky in 1994 and killed several million trees.

Extending the deadline probably won’t tax the program, he added.

“We have 25 million trees available to us, so we’ve just scratched the surface.”

, DataTimes