Half a decade later, many Iowan towns and cities are still recovering from the August 2020 derecho, which swept across the Midwest and was estimated to have damaged or destroyed around seven million trees across Iowa, according to a 2021 analysis released by the Department of Natural Resources.
The derecho uprooted entire trees with winds that reached up to 140 miles per hour, splintering other trees in half and tossing their limbs and branches across the streets of Iowa. After the derecho had passed and trees were cleared, many trees weren’t replanted or restored, leaving 32,773 acres of urban tree canopy damaged, according to the analysis.
With Earth Day approaching on April 22, many are working to replant trees in their community and remedy the damage caused by the derecho.
Recently, the City of Coralville’s Parks and Recreation department hosted its “Branching Out” tree purchase program for its fourth year, which encourages Coralville residents to plant trees in their yards by selling trees at 30 to 40 percent off their retail price.
“We were just noticing that a lot of residents weren’t planting back,” Sherri Proud, the director of Coralville Parks and Recreation, said, “Or some residents, their tree had died in their front yard for other reasons, and we wanted to encourage our residents to plant trees.”
The program closed on April 7, but as part of the program, Coralville residents had the option to order from a variety of trees, including the insect-resistant Emerald Sunshine Elm, the white-flowering Ivory Silk Japanese Tree Lilac, and Royal Raindrops Crabapples, which produce small, red fruit and pink flowers. These trees are essential not just for their aesthetic value, but also in promoting a healthier environment.
“Shade canopy is something that’s so very important, as well as having a lot of trees to reduce our carbon footprint, to cool pavement, and to provide habitat,” Proud said. “We hope that every Coralville resident has a tree in their front yard and at least one tree in their backyard, if not two or three, if they’ve got the room.”
The City of Coralville was also recently awarded $30,000 by the Iowa DNR as part of the Community Forestry Grant, and through this grant, Parks and Recreation employees will be planting trees on Earth Day, Proud said.
Similarly, in celebration of Arbor Day on April 25, the University of Iowa will plant a Miyawaki forest northeast of Hillcrest Hall in an area that has been historically difficult for the UI to maintain. Planting will begin on April 25 and will consist of densely planting 4,000 seedlings to mimic the natural growth cycle of a forest.
But year-round, Andy Dahl is thinking about trees and ways to support the trees growing on campus.
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Dahl has been UI’s urban forestry supervisor and campus arborist for the past 25 years, and during this time, has been in awe of the history the trees on campus represent, with some of them being as old as 150 years.
“I’m humbled and honored to be a part of that,” Dahl said. “It’s really fun. Plus, I get to plant really cool trees.”
Currently, the UI has over 350 species of trees, Dahl said, which can all be found through UI’s tree inventory map.
“The reason why we have that many species of trees is not just because I’m a collector, which I am, but when you have too many of a certain species, it can lead to problems,” Dahl said.
One of those problems includes disease outbreaks. With a lack of biodiversity, an entire population of trees can be struck down by a single disease. As Dahl explained, this is what happened in the late ‘60s when Dutch Elm disease broke out on campus, killing all but two of the 2,000 American elms that previously grew on campus.
Similarly, in 2016, when the first emerald ash borer larva, a non-native wood boring insect, was found on UI campus, 700 ash trees had to be removed, stripping the two blocks around the Pentacrest.
“What we’ve done is we replant with diverse species, so we’re not putting all our eggs in one basket,” Dahl said.
While the work Dahl does year-round, of maintaining trees, growing seedlings, and trading seeds, may not be accessible to the public, Dahl emphasized the importance of education in supporting the local ecosystem of trees.
The Iowa City Public Library’s Arbor Day Celebration will be offering education on tree planting and tree care on April 25 alongside their seed library, which opened in early April and is available year-round.
“Anybody can plant things,” Heidi Kuchta, an outreach assistant at Iowa City Public Library, said. “The important thing about growing your own flowers or planting seeds is bossing our pollinator species. Really, it’s about making sure that in generations to come, we’re still going to have pollinator species to help us grow our food.”