In the spring of 2010, a group of young men traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee to spend a weekend with friends and experience the re-development that has been taking place in Chattanooga. There they met the director of Take Root Chattanooga, Preston Roberts, who now leads what a few visionary citizens dreamed of several years ago. Seeing the dramatic success of Take Root Chattanooga in improving the air quality, aesthetic appearance, and walkability of downtown Chattanooga by planting trees was inspiring.
When one of those men, Chase Fisher, returned to his hometown of Montgomery, he saw there were few trees around the downtown core and even fewer that provide the necessary canopy a downtown needs. Meetings began with Montgomery’s Urban Forester, Russell Stringer, to see if there was a need for a partner in planting street trees around downtown. The answer was a resounding YES! Take Root then partnered with the Montgomery Tree Committee, to begin planting trees in the downtown core that would improve Montgomery’s urban environmental health, the aesthetic appeal of downtown, and reduce the heat islands that make walking through downtown in the summer so uncomfortable.
Take Root is launching this fall with one goal: to double the percentage of tree canopy cover in the urban core. Take Root sets out to honor a city with much to celebrate by planting trees, for Montgomerians, in Montgomery.