Established in 1999, Reforest the Bluegrass is a highly successful urban reforestation initiative that has, over its twenty-year history, planted over 140,000 trees with the help of more than 16,500 volunteers on over 190 acres in Lexington! It’s one of the largest and longest running programs of its kind, and has sparked urban restoration efforts in Danville, Frankfort, and Northern Kentucky. While the program’s successful community engagement is well-known and applauded, Reforest’s ecological successes are less well-understood.
Recognizing the opportunity to evaluate Reforest’s long-term ecological outcomes, a collaboration between UK faculty, students, and LFUCG emerged, called Evaluating Twenty Years of Urban Reforestation in Lexington.
This project aims to assemble a database gathering data over the twenty year history of Reforest the Bluegrass, as well as establish permanent monitoring plots on each Reforest site. The team is collecting environmental data from each site, such as soil chemistry, plant community structure, migratory songbird abundance and species diversity, and water quality.
Five students participated in summer research at Reforest sites as part of this project, conducting surveys to learn more about their ecological structures and functions. Students presented their findings at the Society of American Foresters (SAF) Virtual National Convention last October, as well as the 2020 Kentucky Academy of Sciences annual meeting.
Evaluating Twenty Years of Urban Reforestation in Lexington was funded by the Sustainability Challenge Grant, a collaborative effort between the President’s Sustainability Advisory Committee, the Tracy Farmer Institute for Sustainability and the Environment, and the Office of Sustainability, and the Student Sustainability Council.
Plant a tree! Planting a tree provides social and environmental benefits. Trees reduce stormwater, provide shade and produce oxygen.