Volunteers plant trees in Ringgold, Ga., in October with the help of the Georgia Forestry Commission and Home Depot employees. From left are Josh Burnette, top, Tammy Stone, Terry Issac, Debbie Houston and Brittany Adams.
Charles Lancaster, county extention agent for the University of Georgia in Ringgold, plants a tree with the help of volunteers and Home Depot employees after spring tornados destroyed many of the trees.CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Just two months after the April 27 tornadoes churned through Ringgold, Ga., a group of residents joined restoration efforts by organizing a tree planting for fall.
David Dunn, public defender for North Georgia’s Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, told the Cleveland Tree Board on Tuesday how Trees For Ringgold was formed and how the idea can be adapted here.
He said the group began by working with Ringgold on appearance standards and rebuilding.
“Then we sat back and thought, ‘We don’t want to stop, so what can we do now?’ Well, we have groups building houses back up. We have groups providing aid and feeding the hungry. So what can we do?”
The storm had altered Ringgold’s appearance by knocking down large numbers of trees, some of them more than 100 years old.