AMESBURY — They provide shade and respite on a hot summer day, decrease noise and environmental pollution, and even have the ability to reduce home energy bills if placed well. The tree in one's front yard provides all this and more, and that's why the Amesbury Improvement Association is invested in offering them free to residents willing to "Say Yes to a Tree."
For the eighth year in a row, the association will be undertaking its Say Yes program that has planted more than 1,000 trees so far within the town's limits. If by chance, they put a stake in the ground on your land, which is the protocol they'll be following during the week of March 29, you'll be the lucky recipient of a native tree.
All you have to do is leave the stake in the ground, and the tree is yours, association member Richard Gale said.
"They go out and find a site they like, stake it and put a flag in the ground," said Gale of the process that volunteer planters use each year.
This year, the Improvement Association has incorporated the help of Amesbury students who attend River Valley Charter School in Newburyport to both stake potential tree sites and do the planting.
This program has gone on for the past seven or eight years, Gale said. "This is the first year we've had the charter school do this. The students will be staking tree sites in Amesbury, with fliers and flags, the week of March 29."
A total of 120 trees have been purchased by the association for giveaway this year, including native New England trees such as maples, oaks, elms, sycamores, lindens, and some hawthorns, Gale said.
"We vary it a little bit depending on how much money we get," said Gale, who added that recipients of a tree need not donate anything toward the cost, but are welcome to contribute if they desire.
"They are asked, but they're not required to donate," he said. "The trees are already paid for."
If residents find their property has been flagged but don't want a tree planted there, they are welcome to opt out through a simple process, he said.
"They (volunteers) go out and find a site they like, stake it and put a flag in the ground," Gale said. "They will leave a flier in the door explaining what's happening, and if the resident doesn't like the idea, they pull the flag out and throw the flier away."
Those interested in receiving a tree should call Gale at 978-388-9774.
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