The FGCV participates in a meaningful and practical conservation project on four occasions this year. The National Garden Club and the National Forest reforestation program plantation, replants replacement trees indigenous to a particular damaged area. Whether by fire or by other natural catastrophe, pine trees and other trees are replaced.
This year’s charitable giving was made in honor of all Vermont Garden Club Members and Mable Mayforth, a FGCV president and founder of the first FGCV scholarship program in the 1970’s.
Local Garden Clubs help in Disaster Forests
Garden clubs in Vermont, Arlington Garden Club, Burlington Garden Club, Rutland Garden Club, and the Federation Garden Clubs of Vermont (FGCV) dig in to do their part with their dedication in sustaining national and urban forests. The clubs raise donations from club members to replant disaster-struck forests.
The clubs work in partnership with the National Garden Club and the US Department of Agriculture. The project began in 1941 as a conservation project. Doris Van Mullen, FGCV President, states the “Penny for Pines” conservation effort entails the planting of replacement seedlings that are indigenous (not only pine trees), to forested areas damages by insects, fires, or nation catastrophes. The plantations provide soil and watershed protection, soil stabilization, as well as beauty and shade for recreation.
To learn more - https://gardenclub.org/penny-pines
About Penny Pines Reforestation Program
The national forests in California cover some 20 million acres, or about 1/5 of the state. That is equal to an area just slightly larger than the state of South Carolina. Stretching from the Mexican border to Oregon, these forests include a variety of terrain and vegetation types. These areas of great beauty and majestic stature are plagued by divesting problems, such as natural and man-caused fire, pests and disease. These cause vast depletion and destruction of the national forests in California.
After large wildland fires, areas across the forest may need to be restored. As destructive as fires are, disease and insect infestation destroy seven times more forest vegetation annually than fires because forests pests are scattered and not easily detected, so are harder to control.
Over 900,000 acres of the Mendocino National Forest burned in recent years due the Ranch Fire in 2018 and the August Complex in 2020. Given the scale and intensity of these wildland fires, site preparation for reforestation projects can take two to three years before it is safe and possible to plant seedlings. Your donation will help renew the forest with future planting projects in areas that recently burned when it is safe to do so.
In time some land may recover naturally. Penny Pines provides a helping hand. It is a conservation program in which everyone can participate.
Find out more about the Penny Pines Reforestation Program at www.fs.usda.gov.
Saving Forests $68 At A Time
NGC and the USDA Forest Service are proud to have formed a partnership sustaining our national and urban forests through this reforestation/forest education program.
Your Garden Club can participate in a meaningful and practical conservation project by contributing $68.00 to a Penny Pines plantation as part of the costs of replanting replacement trees indigenous to a particular damaged area. Whether by fire or by other natural catastrophe, pine trees and other trees are replaced. You may designate a specific state you wish to have benefit from this contribution.
Under a conservation agreement, the forest service will do the planting, using your donation together with federal funds, and will provide to the plantation the same protection from fires, insects, and disease given other forested areas. The plantations are a part of the regular national forest reforestation program planted on burned-over and brush-covered areas which are potentially productive timberlands. Planting sites are selected by the supervisor of each national forest. These plantations provide soil protection, watershed protection, soil stabilization, future harvestable timber, as well as beauty and shade for recreation.
States, regions, districts, clubs, and/or individuals may participate in this program by donating in multiples of $68. A $68 donation may be made in honor or in memory of ONE individual, organization, or theme.
Find out more, by visiting gardenclub.org/penny-pines.
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