Brown Middle School Teams Up With Trees Atlanta

Trees Atlanta announced today a pilot environmental education partnership with the Atlanta Audubon Society and Atlanta Public Schools’ Brown Middle School, a City of Atlanta school located in the West End Community of Atlanta adjacent to the future Atlanta BeltLine.  The partnership will focus on planting and caring for bird and wildlife-friendly trees and agro-forestry, the sustainable practice of growing food in a forest setting, within the setting of the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum, a proposed “outdoor living tree museum” around the Atlanta BeltLine.  Additional partners include West End neighbors, West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, and others.  The project is supported by one of 41 national innovation grants provided by TogetherGreen, a group that funds and promotes conservation leadership training and volunteer programs designed to equip and engage diverse groups and individuals to take action today to shape a healthier tomorrow (www.togethergreen.org).

 Trees Atlanta and Atlanta Audubon staff and volunteers will kick-off the project with a student-only tree planting on Thursday, March 12^th from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Throughout the day, students will help install 1,000 trees and shrubs around the Brown Middle School Wildlife Triangle located at 765 Peeples Street, NW, Atlanta, GA 30310.  Before planting, the young people will receive interactive, hands-on training highlighting proper installation and benefits of native trees and plants, how to select and grow edible trees and shrubs, and creating a tangible community legacy.  Students will also tour the Atlanta BeltLine West End Trail and learn about the community and human health benefits of trees by studying the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum’s unique collections adjacent to the school.

On the Saturday following the school project, March 14^th at 9:00 a.m., Trees Atlanta invites the community to get involved.  Interested citizens are invited to RSVP by calling 404-681-4901.  Volunteers will mulch and water the newly planted trees and plant any trees remaining from the students’ planting day.

Trees Atlanta hopes to replicate the program at other schools along the Atlanta BeltLine and throughout the City of Atlanta.  Astrove concluded, “I hope students bring their grandchildren back to the school someday and say, ‘Look, I planted that tree.'"