Fourth annual tree planting helps to stabilize, improve Hocking River in Athens

The partnership between Ohio University and the City of Athens is proving beneficial to the environment while providing protection and improvements along the Hocking River floodplain.

In early November, students and faculty of the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at OHIO assembled to volunteer their time along with community members, students, parents, Athens Mayor Steve Patterson, workers from the city’s Arts, Parks and Recreation Department, members of the Athens Arbor Day Committee and others. The volunteers met along a stretch of the river designated for special attention to mitigate flooding, to provide cover and nourishment for local fauna, and to enhance the area near the existing recreational trail.

A couple hours later on that Dad’s Weekend, the group had planted some three dozen trees and tended to plantings from the prior three years as part of the Hocking River Riparian Restoration Project.

Work on the latest phase of the project, however, began months before and was led in part by a Voinovich Undergraduate Research Scholar at the school majoring in environmental studies.

Eva Miller, a junior seeking a minor in urban planning, along with Jennifer Bowman, the university’s director of Environmental Programs, had been busy for months selecting appropriate trees, coordinating site preparation with the city and finalizing other plans for the event. About three dozen volunteers attended the planting, which coincided with the mayor’s annual Arbor Day Proclamation.

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Patterson said the Riparian Restoration Project partnership with OHIO is among several initiatives undertaken by Athens, which for more than three decades has been designated a Tree City USA for efforts overseen by its Shade Tree Commission.

“This year and last year we really upped our game in terms of planting trees,” Patterson said. Along with the event along the river with OHIO students and faculty, the city also did a major planting near the new fire station headquarters. “I believe this year we planted more than 80 trees.”

The next phase of that project will entail work on the understory by planting native bushes and shrubs and continuing to remove invasive species along the 16-acre area, Patterson said. Next year the goal is to plant another 200 trees throughout the city to shade the bike path and other areas.

Miller, whose father attended the OHIO event, and Bowman applauded the turnout and the results.

“It was great to see it finally realized because I started planning for this project in late August with Jen,” she said. “So, to finally see those trees in the ground was pretty great.”

“Since we had so many people show up, we got the trees planted pretty quickly, within an hour or hour and a half,” Miller added. “So, if people wanted to stay, we had them do some maintenance on trees that were planted last November.”

That work entailed pulling weeds and adding mulch to the existing plantings, Miller said.

“So that sort of speaks to, you know, once the trees are in the ground we can’t just walk away from them. We need to do ongoing maintenance,” Miller said.

Bowman lauded Miller’s work on the project, calling her “the force behind the planting.”

Along with working on the planting design, and coordinating with the city ahead of the event, Miller has also documented shade trees throughout Athens, Bowman said.

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The new flora along the designated area includes swamp white oaks, persimmons, service berries, paw paws, Chicago hardy figs, elderberries, plums and hazelnuts.  Bowman said aim was to grow trees that do well in wet conditions.

“We’re focusing on planting forest food trees – things that provide food for wildlife,” she said. They also help stabilize the riverbank area.

“We are vegetating our floodplain,” Bowman added. “It helps to soak up water so there’s a reduction in flooding. It also stabilizes our floodplain.”

Patterson, a former associate professor of health psychology at OHIO and self-described “huge advocate for experiential learning,” said the participation of students in the restoration efforts provides for a valuable experience they will appreciate in the years to come.

“Once they graduate and go wherever they go and come back for Homecoming in the future – and most of them do – to be able to wander back in the area when these trees are 5, 10, 15, 20 years older than when they planted them, will I’m sure give them a lot of pride,” he said. “It’s meaningful.”