Buy a Tree, Plant a Tree: Partnering with the Intervale Center for our Annual COTS Tree Sale
Guest post by Sara Armstrong Donegan, Development Coordinator, Intervale Center
Do you love the scent of a fresh tree in your home during the darkness of winter? The warmth the lights emit from a decorated balsam? For the second year in a row, a tree in your home can provide even more feel-good vibes: when you purchase a tree from the City Market Annual COTS Tree Sale this December, not only will it support the Committee on Temporary Shelter but City Market will match your purchase by committing to plant a tree with the Intervale Center for every tree sold in your honor!
Last year, thanks to this partnership alone, we planted over 600 trees along the Winooski River. In December 2018, when customers purchased tress at the City Market COTS Tree Sale, City Market in turn purchased native trees through the Intervale Conservation Nursery, an enterprise of the Intervale Center that ecologically grows native trees and shrubs for conservation projects in Vermont, New York and New Hampshire.
On Saturday, May 18th, 19 volunteers planted these trees along the Winooski River in Burlington’s Intervale. The trees will live for decades, providing habitat for animals, reducing erosion, sequestering carbon, and filtering pollutants. Planting trees is the easiest and most cost-effective way we can combat climate change! Every year, the Intervale Conservation Nursery plants 40,000 Vermont-grown, native trees and shrubs along our rivers and streams – that’s the equivalent of 160 acres of new forest!
This is just one of the ways City Market and its Members support the Intervale Center’s conservation work. City Market has also sponsored Have a Heart, Pull a Weed Day, which focuses on removing invasive species from our forests, and International Plant a Tree Day, during which the Intervale Center and City Market volunteers joined hundreds of people around the world to plant trees to combat climate change. In addition to these events, City Market member worker volunteers have contributed over 1,700 hours to the Center’s work this year. Amazing!
The Intervale Center is proud to partner with City Market on the Buy a Tree, Plant a Tree campaign. Bring a fresh tree into your home this winter and support a healthy watershed at the same time!