Asheville GreenWorks makes 400 native trees available for ‘adoption’ at Halloween event

By Anjali Patel

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Asheville GreenWorks made 400 native trees available for adoption to Buncombe County residents on Sunday, Oct. 30.

In 2019, the organization set the goal of restoring the tree canopy to 50% by 2040.

So far, GreenWorks has planted about 900 trees on public and private property and has given out more than 3,800 trees to residents to plant in their own yards.

They’re giving away trees, but organizers prefer the term “adoption.”

“It’s a matter of getting it in the ground right away and taking good care of it; that’s why we call it a tree adoption event rather than a tree giveaway — is that people are adopting the trees and making a commitment to take good care of them,” said Dawn Chavez, executive director of Asheville GreenWorks.

Some of the native species adopted Sunday included Red Oak, Silver Maple, American Sweetgum, Virginia Pine, Sycamore and River Birch.

All the trees at the Halloween adoption event were grown in GreenWorks’ native tree nursery.

COVID slowed their progress, but Sunday’s event put them back on track to plant 50,000 trees over the next 20 years.

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