Earth Day Tree Planting Ceremony Marks Donation of 65,000 Trees to Texas Parks and Wildlife

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AUSTIN — To celebrate the 40th Earth Day, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Executive Director Carter Smith will be planting a 15-gallon Cedar Elm at the agency’s Austin headquarters at 10 a.m. on April 22. The event will mark the donation of 65,000 trees made by the Apache Foundation Tree Grant Program to the agency.

The trees will be planted at TPWD properties across the state, including six wildlife management areas, four state parks and one Fisheries Division site. All trees are native and include many different species, including various oaks, the Longleaf Pine, Pecan, Texas Ebony, Bigtooth Maple, and other varieties indigenous to Texas. These trees will aid in restoration of habitat, provide forage and cover for wildlife and enhance trails or facilities on agency sites.

The Austin tree planting ceremony is part of several Earth Day events happening throughout the state. Various festivals, clean ups and tree plantings are scheduled in state parks across Texas during the month of April and May.

The Apache Foundation is the charitable arm of the Apache Corporation, a multinational independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Houston. The tree grant program was developed by the Apache Foundation to offset carbon foot-printing, bring nature back to cities, restore native plant communities and provide habitat for wildlife.

The tree donations range from seedlings, which are young plants; to saplings, young trees; to the more developed 5-gallon tree. Listed below are the tree planting sites, which include wildlife management areas, state parks and fisheries:

TPWD PROPOSED PLANTING SITEQUANTITYTREE SPECIESSIZE
Alazan Bayou WMA54,108Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)Seedlings
Chaparral WMA-Daughtrey WMAs100Live Oak5 gallon
Estero Llano Grande SP31See BelowSee Below
 5Anacahuita/Wild Olive (Cordia boissieri)5 gallon
 1Rio Grande Ash (Fraxinus berlandieriana)5 gallon
 2Sugar hackberry (Celtis laevigata)5 gallon
 1Texas Ebony (Pithecellobium flexicaule)5 gallon
 7Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana)5 gallon
 10Anacua (Ehretia anacua)5 gallon
 3Montezuma Bald Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum)5 gallon
 2Cedar Elm (Ulmus crassifolia)5 gallon
Goliad SP39See BelowSee Below
 5Anacua (Ehretia anacua)5 gallon
 6Cedar Elm (Ulmus crassifolia)5 gallon
 7Anacahuita/Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri)5 gallon
 3Spiny Hackberry/Granjeno (Celtis pallida)5 gallon
 9Texas Ebony (Pithecellobium flexicaule)5 gallon
 3Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana)5 gallon
 3Texas Sugarberry/Sugar Hackberry (Celtis laevigata)5 gallon
 3Western Soapberry (Sapindus drummondii)5 gallon
Kerr WMA140See BelowSee Below
 25Lacey Oak (Quercus glaucoides)5 gallon
 25Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)5 gallon
 20Texas Oaks (Quercus texana)5 gallon
 25Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muhlenbergii)5 gallon
 20Pecan (Carya Illinoensis)5 gallon
 15Redbud (Cercis canadensis)5 gallon
 10Eve’s Necklace (Sophora affinis)5 gallon
Lake Corpus Christi State Park15Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)5 gallon
Lost Maples SP50See Below5 gallon
  Bigtooth Maple (Acer granditatum)5 gallon
  Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muhlenbergii)5 gallon
  Texas Red Oak (Quercus buckleyi)5 gallon
  Lacey Oak (Quercus glaucoides)5 gallon
Lower Neches WMA10,500See BelowSee Below
 4,300White (Quercus alba), Willow (Quercus phellos), Water Oak (Quercus nigra)Bare Root Saplings
 6,200Live Oak (Quercus virginiana), Laurel Oak (Quercus laurifolia)Bare Root Saplings
Old Tunnel WMA70See BelowSee Below
 20Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muhlenbergii)5 gallon
 20Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)5 gallon
 10Redbud (Cercis canadensis)5 gallon
 15Pecan (Carya Illinoensis)5 gallon
 5Eve’s Necklace (Sophora affinis)5 gallon
Sea Center Texas465See BelowSee Below
 60Laurel Oak (Quercus laurifolia)5 gallon
 50Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)5 gallon
 60Nuttall Oak (Quercus nuttallii)5 gallon
 50Chestnut Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii)5 gallon
 5Shumard (red) Oak (Q. shumardii)5 gallon
 15Willow Oak (Q. phellos)5 gallon
 25Redbud (Cercis canadensis)5 gallon
 200Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)Saplings to 5 gallon
 TOTAL65,518  

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