Local seedlings to nurture Savannah foundation's 'tree equity' efforts

On a sun-splashed weekday morning, an imposing icon of Savannah’s past stands sentry near the gate of a fenced compound protecting ingredients to the city’s future.

A hulking live oak, Spanish moss draped over its gnarled arms like tattered shawls, seems to peer over the edge of the woods. Inside the enclosure, neatly arranged rows of young live oaks in small, black containers await their deployment.

“We have an aging tree canopy,” Savannah Tree Foundation Executive Director Zoe Rinker explains while standing in a muddy meadow at the SeaPoint Industrial Terminal Complex. “What hasn't been lost to storms is getting older and hasn't been replanted at the rate that it should.”

Rinker aims to change that and, through a partnership with the company operating SeaPoint, her organization now has its first extensive supply of local seedlings.

About 1,500 early-stage trees now occupy a portion of the outdoor nursery. Eventually, that number will grow to 4,000.

While a perpetually replenished supply will insulate the foundation from shortages like the one the nation is experiencing now, local seedlings also are more likely to get off to a healthy start, Rinker noted.

“What it’s letting us do is grow trees in the microclimate of Savannah,” she says. “There's so many times when we will transplant trees from Florida or north Georgia that have a harder time acclimating to (being at) sea level, and our temperatures. So that's really, really helped us with survival rates.”

With the future addition of a greenhouse on the site, the foundation hopes to propagate seeds from Savannah landmarks such as the Candler Oak, which is believed to be three centuries old, and the iconic live oak collection at the former Wormsloe Plantation.

“This space is perfect,” Rinker says before pointing to Matt White, manager of the operation. ”I knew nothing about nurseries, and I brought Matt out here during his interview and said, ‘Can we work with this?’ He said, yes!’”

Dulany Industries Inc. donated use of the one-acre site near SeaPoint’s one-megawatt solar array, honeybee apiary and pollinator garden. The company also will supply water and electricity for the nursery.

"’Rarely do you have organizations or people that get very forward thinking,” Dulany Industries Chairman and CEO Reed Dulany III replies when asked why he became interested in the project. “Trees are one of the things Savannah’s famous for. Who just doesn't love trees? And yet at some point, they are going to die. So, at some point, they're going to be issues.”

Looking up: $1M grant to address Savannah's 'tree inequity,' offer non-traditional job path

Ahead of the heat

Most of the trees cultivated at the nursery will go to private property owners, and many of those will be bound for underserved – and under-shaded – areas including Savannah's west side.

“Mostly in West Savannah, the tree canopy is lacking because there's nowhere in the right-of-way for the city to plant trees,” Rinker explains. “It was just designed differently than, say, downtown.”

Adding trees to that area of the city will be particularly beneficial as the continued burning of fossil fuels for transportation and energy production releases more heat-trapping pollution, leading to more instances of extremely hot weather.

The shade provided by a leafy canopy keeps neighborhoods cooler and protects residents from exposed “heat islands” where temperatures can reach dangerous levels.

Research has found that city neighborhoods can experience mid-afternoon temperatures that are 15 to 20 degrees hotter than nearby tree-lined communities or rural areas with fewer people and buildings.

That’s significant because excessive heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S.

Already, Savannah averages 23 more summer days with higher-than-normal temperatures than it did a half-century ago, an analysis by the organization Climate Central found.

Beyond casting valuable shade, trees and vegetation also absorb moisture through their roots and cool surroundings by releasing water vapor into the air through their leaves, and through evaporation of rainfall collecting on leaves and soil.

Much of the foundation’s private placement will be done through its Canopy Corps program, which addresses tree inequity and provides green job training opportunities in Chatham County.

The effort got a boost earlier this year through a $1 million grant from the Georgia Forestry Commission.

“We’re trying to do some private property planting but at a scale that's not such that we're putting a disproportionate amount of maintenance responsibility on the private property owner,” Rinker says.

As a black swallowtail butterfly flits behind Rinker, she takes a page from her own life to illustrate the potential planted in each of the nursery’s 1,500 containers.

As a child living in the Old Towne community on Wilmington Island, Rinker watched as a swath of forest was clear-cut to make room for more development.

“But now I go back and there are live oaks lining the lagoon and other trees that were just like sticks then,” she says. “They did do some of it right. They saved a lot of trees. So, yeah, even if it isn’t the greatest plan, there’s still a lot you can do to make sure there’s a quality, livable future.”

John Deem covers climate change and the environment in coastal Georgia. He can be reached at 980-355-2995.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah Tree Foundation to tap local seedlings in equity effort