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St. Pete’s post-storm tree replanting efforts take root

Mark Parker

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According to a local nonprofit, some estimates show St. Petersburg lost 20% of its tree canopy during Hurricane Milton in October 2024. Photo by Mark Parker.

Several thousand trees in St. Petersburg succumbed to Hurricane Milton’s winds, and city officials hope community-driven replanting efforts can mitigate the devastation.

Tara Lynn Hubbard, president of Take MAR (More Action for Regeneration), believes her St. Petersburg-based nonprofit can help lead those efforts. The organization and over 150 volunteers planted 1,000 long-leaf pines and 500 native plants Jan. 18 in northeastern Hillsborough County’s Lower Green Swamp Nature Preserve.

However, Hubbard said bureaucratic red tape has hampered planned projects in St. Petersburg. “I am so shocked at how hard it is to plant trees.”

“We have the money, we have the labor, we have the skills – we can do everything,” Hubbard added. “We’re not asking for anything except permission to put the trees in the ground.”

She said Take MAR has three projects awaiting permits and hopes to plant over 200 trees in St. Petersburg. Potential locations include Sirmons Lake Park in the Disston Heights neighborhood and along the Pinellas Trail, just west of 49th Street South.

The city could use the help.

In November 2024, Mike Jefferis, community enrichment administrator, told city council members that 600 trees fell in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. Residents reported over 2,000 lying across roads and sidewalks in Milton’s aftermath.

“Some estimates are as high as a 20% canopy loss from the storms, which is really intense,” Hubbard said. “Now we have even more work to do.”

Her reforestation-focused nonprofit “immediately got to work” following Milton, which felled about 60% of its recently planted trees. Take MAR launched a fundraiser in November 2024 to help regenerate the local canopy.

Hubbard said liability, right-of-way use and insurance concerns have delayed permission to plant trees along the Pinellas Trail for roughly eight months. While the city has offered its blessing, she remains in a “holding pattern” with Pinellas County officials.

Tara Lynn Hubbard, president of Take MAR, plants trees along the Pinellas Trail. Photo provided.

City council members are also wary of tree-planting challenges. The topic featured prominently at a Jan. 16 committee meeting.

Maeven Rogers, director of sustainability and resilience, said 183 trees planted in Childs Park in September 2024 are “doing fine.” She also noted residents must tend to the saplings.

The city will launch its City Tree Giveaway initiative this spring. The overarching goal is to improve air quality, mitigate the urban heat effect and reduce stormwater flooding by bolstering St. Petersburg’s tree canopy.

“We’re going to need help from our residents,” Rogers said. “And we’re not able to plant in people’s front yards, backyards or side yards.”

Residents must plant the trees according to their size. Rogers said the initiative’s motto is “right tree, right place” following an influx of related storm damage.

Officials will also provide neighborhood associations with 28 trees by the end of January as part of an ongoing mini-grant program. Councilmember Gina Driscoll said some organizations were uncomfortable with related legal requirements.

She noted an association in her downtown district completed the necessary volunteer hours and realized it must assume all responsibility for a tree falling on neighboring vehicles or houses. “That’s where they had to back off,” Driscoll said.

City Administrator Rob Gerdes said reducing municipal liability by transitioning from planting on public to private property was a motivating factor for establishing a giveaway program. Rogers said recipients would receive mailers with educational information, and officials would try to “make it fun for residents.”

Administrators will consider yard size before recommending a small, medium or large tree. Driscoll said the city’s commitment to replacing storm-damage trees would offer hope.

“We need to make sure we have the funding necessary to really boost our tree efforts,” she added. “And not get to a point where it’s like, ‘Oh, more people want trees, but now we’re out of money.’ I don’t want us to ever have to say that.”

Councilmember Brandi Gabbard will request a committee discussion Thursday regarding post-hurricane impacts on the city’s tree canopy. Officials previously set a 30% coverage goal.

The discussion will explore ways to establish an interdepartmental replacement initiative when administrators utilize the St. Petersburg Disaster Assistance Program for tree removal. “The tree canopy loss is something we’re definitely going to have to address,” Gabbard said.

The initiative is music to Hubbard’s ears. In addition to “getting back what we lost,” she noted that maintaining the city’s canopy provides numerous health and wellness benefits and contributes to St. Petersburg’s charm.

Hubbard hopes to foster a “holistic mindset” that considers avenues for offsetting tree loss as the city grows. She believes the Pinellas Trail offers an ideal location for an “incredible green linear park.”

“We have that opportunity – it’s right there in front of us,” Hubbard said. “It’s just going to be up to people like us who ask for it and take action to make it happen.”

 

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Avatar

    Jeanette R Bulatowicz

    January 22, 2025at4:28 pm

    First of all..go Tara Lynn.. you are an amazing person
    Second lets just all replant.. anything Florida friendly for now.
    We need shade, clean air and beautiful Florida plants and trees.
    We’ve got this

  2. Avatar

    Steve D

    January 22, 2025at2:57 pm

    The city could make immediate progress by replanting many of the live oaks which fell on public rights-of-way on Central, and 1st Aves. N.& S., and the empty tree wells on the intersecting roads.

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