The Jefferson Tree Committee, Greene County High School students and other volunteers helped plant several trees on Tuesday.

Jefferson Trees Forever Coordinator Brad Riphagen says they planted about 140 trees on South Olive and Locust Streets in the easement area with funding provided by a newer grant. The city recently received an $11,000 Iowa Department of Transportation Living Roadside Trust Fund, which they matched with $4,000 from the city of Jefferson with some of its allotted funds from Grow Greene County Gaming Corporation and Jefferson Telecom. He explains that this was the first time that the Jefferson Tree Committee has been awarded this type of grant.

“This funding source has been available for several years, but only the recent administrator of the grant has really pushed to get cities involved. In the past, counties and the state have gotten dollars through this grant fund, back to ;89 when it was established. It is something that has been there for a long time but we’re finally getting the push for cities to get involved.” 

City Administrator Scott Peterson is asking for assistance from the property owners who had a tree planted in their easement to ensure that the tree will grow properly.

“I would really encourage you to take the initiative to make sure that your trees get watered. Because otherwise it can be kind of hit or miss about whether they’re watered routinely. And again, if the property owners can step up, I think that’s going to help out with our long term success.    

Riphagen adds that they continued their plantings from earlier this spring when the Jefferson Tree Committee started on Cedar Street to start the process of replacing all of the trees that were removed from city crews because of the Emerald Ash Borer that had been slowly killing trees over several years.