Rochester Hills gave away 200 free trees, all sold out within 24 hours

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Less than 24 hours after the city of Rochester Hills offered 200 free trees to residents for the fall, the supply has sold out.

“We were fortunate to apply early, so we were able to get the trees,” said Mary Schultz, who lives in the area.

The City of Rochester Hills has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation for the Community Canopy Program and this since 2020. It offers 200 trees twice a year, in autumn and winter, to owners who request them.

The trees are then planted for the residents.

“It’s pretty impressive to see, as a natural resource manager, the residents of our community support a program like this, plant trees on their property and participate in growing the canopy of our community,” said Matt Einheuser, Rochester Hills Natural Resource Manager.

Since 2020, Einheuser says it has planted more than 1,800 trees provided by the Arbor Tree Foundation.

“When you do the math, they provide a nice little dashboard of what this brings. So over the next 20 years, this will provide over $300,000 in benefits to the community, including over 8.9 million gallons of storm water over the next 20 years and filtering it,” Einheuser said.

Schultz is part of a group of tree and nature enthusiasts who have been waiting for applications to open in the fall.

“I am very, very excited that my city of Rochester Hills, in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, is providing trees to residents in the area. We were looking to replace trees that had been damaged by the storm or just by pests and we needed trees, and we found the Community Canopy Program and applied. We are very excited that our little community is getting trees in October,” Schultz said.

They are the only community participating in Michigan, but two utility companies are participating: the Holland Public Works Council And Light and Electricity in Lowell.

This is in addition to their city-funded Street Tree program, which has planted 20,000 trees in public spaces over the past decade.

“Trees provide many benefits, which is why as a city we are always looking to maintain a healthy canopy,” Einheuser said.

With trees downed by storms and increased flooding, Einheuser says this has been a way for them to introduce green infrastructure, which can help in the long run.

“There are a lot of green infrastructure techniques that help communities combat flooding. One of them is planting vegetation, establishing trees and different vegetation, natural vegetation that absorbs a lot of water,” Einheuser said. “Oakland County, in general, and a lot of communities around here, are starting to see this trend around green infrastructure, and I think a lot of communities are starting to realize the need for this infrastructure.”

Recently, the City of Sterling Heights was one of 36 recipients to receive $500,000 to launch the Sterling Heights Urban Reforestation Initiative from American Forests.

The program will address the loss of 12,000 mature trees in the city caused by an invasive species.

SHURI aims to plant more than 1,500 trees in underserved communities to address the nearly 60% of the city’s residential properties that lack trees.

The City of Royal Oak also offers free tree planting in the fall in the right-of-way between the sidewalk and the street.