THE LEAFLET

October 31, 2016 /
Italia Peretti

Gallaudet University Tree Planting Recap

Earlier this month Casey Trees had the opportunity to finish a project over a year in the making. In partnership with Gallaudet University and other volunteers, we planted 30 trees.

Gallaudet is the world’s only university designed and built barrier-free for deaf and hard of hearing students. Working and signing together, we replaced and added to the campus’ tree canopy which has been devastated by the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).

EAB is destroying campus trees. At Gallaudet University, a lush oasis not far from Casey Trees’ headquarters in Northeast D.C., 12 trees were removed last summer due to EAB blight. This is not insignificant — EAB is ravaging ash trees across the eastern U.S. — removing these trees resulted in a significant canopy loss on Gallaudet’s campus.

EAB’s damage is due to the pest’s larvae, which bore under a tree’s bark and cut off its nutrient pathways, slowly starving and killing the tree.

The additional trees planted will take decades to eclipse the shade the removed trees once provided. However, the new trees offer optimism for a new generation of students.

We hope that in the coming years we will be able to add even more trees to this beautiful campus!

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See the full set on our Flickr account here.