MCKINLEY PARK — The McKinley Park Community Garden will pass out oak tree saplings on Saturday to allow neighborhood folks to plant trees and help reduce flooding.
You can pick up the free saplings at 1900 W. Pershing Rd., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Organized by the office of Ald. George Cardenas (12th), the event is part of the “Restore The Canopy, Plant a Tree” campaign, launched by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District this year. The initiative aims to restore the region’s tree canopy and manage storm water.
A medium-sized oak tree can help prevent flooding by absorbing 2,800 gallons of rainfall per year, the district says. They also reduce air pollution, keep neighborhoods cooler, buffer noise as well as absorb carbon dioxide and create oxygen.
The district says there are an estimated 157 million trees in the Chicago area covering about 21 percent of the land area in the region. Those trees remove about 18,000 tons of pollution from the air annually. That, however, is below the national average of 27 percent, the district says.
However, some 13 million trees have been killed by disease in recent years because of emerald ash borer.
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