'One of the most impactful things we've done': Elgin Rotary planting 100 oak trees in forest preserve
There's general agreement in the scientific community that planting trees can help reverse the effects of global climate change.
How many trees? Oh, anywhere from 1 trillion to 3 trillion ought to do it.
"It's a lot of trees, but it can be done one tree at a time," said Greg Karr of the Elgin Breakfast Rotary Club.
The club is looking to do its part with the Oak Grove Restoration Project at Fitchie Creek Forest Preserve in Elgin. With the help of about 100 volunteers, the club will plant 100 bur oak trees in a 30-acre area of the park along Nesler Road on Saturday, Sept. 18.
Karr said the project has been in the works for about 10 years, languishing at times until gaining momentum a couple of years ago when the club was awarded a matching grant of $23,000 from the Grand Victoria Riverboat Fund Program. The club raised $25,000 on its own to fund the remainder of the project.
"We wanted to plant trees of significant size, so we knew it was going to take a considerable amount of money," he said. "Trees aren't cheap."
They decided to do the work themselves and use volunteers, which saved them about 65% of the cost if they had used a commercial entity to plant the trees. The bur oaks they purchased are more than 10 feet tall with 2½-inch trunk diameters at breast height. Karr guessed they're about 8 to 10 years old.
"These are already trees," Karr said, emphasizing the word trees.
"Even when they're planted 30 to 40 feet apart, you're gonna look at it and know this is really going to be something."
When it came time to buy the trees, the Kane County Forest Preserve District had one interesting requirement: They could only be grown from acorns sourced within 200 miles of the planting site. Karr said the trees are from acorns sourced in Iowa.
The project will restore trees to an area once covered by them.
Ninety percent of the area's oaks have all but disappeared since pre-European settlement times in the early 1800s, Karr said.
Restoration of the area also will improve wildlife habitat and complement the county forest district's other restoration efforts.
"This is only the start as we explore additional grant opportunities and work to raise more funds to further enhance this project over time," Rotary Club President Mike Warren said.
The club will take care of the maintenance of the trees, including the considerable amount of water they'll need until the first frost. Karr looks forward to seeing this long-term dream finally come to life.
"It's something that we always strive for, to create something that is impactful, and long-term, this will be one of the most impactful things we've done," he said. "This will have a significant presence for the next 100-plus years."
While the county will handle digging the holes and placing the trees, which could weigh as much as 500 pounds each, the club is looking for about 100 volunteers to come out from 9 a.m. to noon on planting day and help backfill all the holes, water the trees and apply mulch.
They'll have a mule-drawn cart and an old farm truck with hay bales in the back to ferry people from the parking lot to the planting site.
Those interested in volunteering should contact club member Ben Henrikson via email at benhenrikson@gmail.com by Sept. 15. Information is also available at facebook.com/ElginBreakfastRotaryClub/.
Karr said he hopes the volunteer experience could help inspire a new generation of Rotary Club members.
"Unfortunately, Rotary has an image of a bunch of old guys sitting around talking about the old times," he said. "We're looking to revitalize that image by doing things like this."