Arbor Day in Richmond: 50 volunteers plant 29 trees

The morning air smelled of damp soil as the volunteers’ shovels struck buried rocks, glass bottles and bits of old plastic, reminders that the area was once a dumping ground.

On Saturday morning, this stretch of land in Richmond’s Greenway was being reborn, as roughly 50 volunteers, from children to retirees, gathered for the city’s 14th annual Arbor Day celebration. Over the course of three hours, volunteers planted 29 trees along the Richmond Greenway. The nonprofit Groundwork Richmond, which improves urban green spaces and provides environmental job training, worked with the city’s Parks Division to hold the Arbor Day event.

It marked the second year of a broader five-year initiative called Bosque de Barro, which aims to plant 1,000 trees across the Iron Triangle, Santa Fe, and Coronado neighborhoods. 

Roughly half the size of a football field, the targeted area took five weeks of intense work to transform and will require continued care, according to David Rogers, a crew member of Groundwork Richmond, who helped lead the site preparation. “This isn’t the end of it. It’s just the beginning,” he said.

“Events like this are what make Richmond unique,” said Mayor Eduardo Martinez, who made a short speech before the planting began. “If you walk down the entire Greenway, it used to just be a railroad track and garbage and weeds, but now it’s a park.”

Volunteers worked side by side with Groundwork’s 11 workforce development trainees. Lorena Castillo, executive director of Groundwork Richmond, said the initiative teaches sustainable job skills.

The planting brought Mariana Rodriguez, an urban forestry program lead with Groundwork, full circle. She began as a trainee two years ago and now leads other volunteers. 

“When I started, I applied for the workforce development program, which is sometimes six months or a year,” she said. “We learn about pruning trees or how to plant trees. And then the other half of the week is working in the field, she said. “A lot of people think that this is like a man job, but I like it.”

Among the volunteers was Daniel Santos, an assistant engineer for the city. He hammered a stake into the dirt while his 4-year-old son darted across the field shouting that he was “finding diamonds.” To encourage his son to dig, Daniel told him diamonds might be buried in the ground. 

“I’m going to come walk with my trees in the morning,” she said.

LaShon Irving, who has lived in Richmond for 20 years, decided to volunteer after spotting the event flyer at City Hall. “I said, ‘I want to do that. I’ve never planted a tree. I want to plant a tree,’” she said. After finishing her first planting, she smiled proudly. 

With grocery prices up, long lines form at Richmond food bank: ‘Everything is more expensive’