Live Green: Wicomico Environmental Trust Tree Planting

SALISBURY, Md – We previously visited Waterside Park where multiple groups along with the community came together to dig holes and plant hope with a tree-mendous glow up.

“Our slogan is we champion a healthy environment for all,” Carol Dunahoo, the president of WET says. The non profit has been working with the NAACP on the park project for about five years to plant trees and other native species. A couple of years ago, they planted 126 trees all at once. Before planting the trees, their first step was to remove invasive plants. Dunahoo explains, “We have removed a lot of non native, invasive plants from the park and from the shoreline of Mitchell Pond.”

Dunahoo helped obtain a grant from the city of Salisbury in order to give people a usable green space that they can enjoy. Many volunteers came out to learn how to plant trees and the funding was also used to help hire some of the volunteers, some from middle and high school. She says, “we’ve actually been paying them to come during the summer to keep the trees watered and the meadows watered.”

A board member of the Wicomico Environmental Trust, Dan Savoy, is a retired science supervisor. He uses his time now to help educate other volunteers on how to plant trees. He walked me through the steps, “we revisit the tree planting by going through the steps of preparing the hole, preparing the root ball and setting the tree in place and back filling, and then putting some mulch around the perimeter of the tree to hold some of the moisture or water that may fall.”

They have planted over 14 varieties of trees and shrubs at the park so far, and 2 of the trees that were planted recently were Oak trees.

With the help from the NAACP, they’re able to reach out to the community for help. Their outreach coordinator, Mike Angelot says the park used to be bare, and with the trees, they help provide more shade. He says this is his second year working on waterside park and without the trees to provide shade, the summers would be unbearably hot. He added, no one wanted to visit the park on those hot days. Trees also help with air quality and planting those trees at the park provides a more welcoming environment.

The first tree was planted in 2023 according to Angelot, but due to the heat, Savoy says six of those trees died.

Angelot says the goal is to maintain what they have started, and taking care of this park is like taking care of his own neighborhood’s park. He adds that he feels why this place took so long before it got to this point was because the community is more socioeconomically disadvantaged.

He explains, “when school is out a lot of students don’t have something like high quality activity to participate in. They might fill up the time with things that are less high quality and they get themselves in to trouble – but if they’re doing something positive, they’re gonna be more likely to have a better life in general when they have positive examples – positive role models to work off of.”

The volunteers not only help plant trees, but they also help clear away invasive species and maintain the park, helping local pollinators as well.

Dunahoo says, “We’ve replaced that tangle of vines that was taking over the trees and the whole bank with native plantings – a mix of native grasses, the pollinator flowers to feed our bees and our wasps. There is a whole pollinator garden in this direction – that is flowers only that will be blooming soon and we’re trying to make the park a healthier place and a more usable place.”

Angelot says they’re planting native plants for the good of the environment. He explains, “Every organism whether it be a plant or an animal, insect – it all plays a role in that area but when it goes to somewhere else that was already balanced there’s an imbalance that comes about and then the invasive species tend to out perform the natives and they are not really adapted to their environment as the natives would be.”

They’re hoping with more trees, this can bring in more people so they can enjoy the park.

“When I visit a park, one of the things that would attract me is the vegetation so we’re hoping that once these trees have established themselves and grow that people will see that this is a beautiful park to come with family and possibly have a picnic or just participate in some activities,” Savoy says.

They’re hoping to plant more trees and get the community involved. To become a volunteer, sign up online.