Richard Wells addresses the crowd before the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway tree planting Nov. 14
On Saturday, November 14, several members of the Roanoke Valley Master Naturalists chapter volunteered to assist the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway with a large tree-planting event near the Parkway’s intersection with VA 220.
About 75 people showed up to plant the 500 Black Locust and Virginia Pine seedlings. The Locusts were planted in protective tubes to prevent deer from grazing them to the ground, while the pines did not need special protection.
Roanoke Valley Master Naturalists and other volunteers plant trees on the hillside.
Master Naturalists helped out in several ways including pre-arranging the protective mats and tubes for the locusts, demonstrating tree planting methods, filling and carrying buckets to water the seedlings, planting several trees themselves, and answering various questions about the project.
Next time you are on the Parkway near 220, or on 220 near the Berglund dealerships, check out the seedlings and see how they are doing.