Feb 01, 2021

Volunteerism for Sustainable Conservation

Greenville Water Cares Volunteers Partnered With TreesUpstate and Save Our Saluda to Support Their Largest Ever Tree Planting Event

Greenville Water team members planted more than 480 trees and shrubs to help create a riparian buffer along the North Saluda River which receives water from our North Saluda Reservoir. The cost for TreesUpstate to plant one 3-gallon tree is $35. This cost includes trees, deliveries, soil amendments, mulch and staff time.

“We were so thrilled to have Greenville Water join our volunteer effort to help expand riparian buffers along a 3,000-foot section of the North Saluda River impacted by sediment runoff. Over the two-day planting period we had 145 volunteers who helped us plant over 1,000 native trees and shrubs in the North Saluda River floodplain – our biggest riparian restoration project to date,” said Melanie Ruhlman, Save Our Saluda. “We also removed several truckloads of trash. Greenville Water’s team helped to make it a great success!”

Volunteers with Greenville Water Cares, planted native red maple, river birch, blackgum, cherrybark oak, arrowwood, yellow poplar and elderberry just to name a few. In total, there were more than 20 species of native trees and shrubs planted.

“The project on the North Saluda to plant more than 1,000 trees and shrubs is the largest tree planting TreesUpstate has ever coordinated. Projects like these are critical because they help to add more trees to our home in the Upstate, improve our local air quality and help to protect our watershed,” said Kylie Stackis, TreesUpstate. “A project of this scale would not be possible without our donors and the support of Greenville Water’s volunteers and their commitment to the health of our regional watershed.”