More than 80 Ames community members planted 150 trees in parks all over Ames April 26 as part of a project for Ames’ Sesquicentennial.

This tree planting project was organized by the Ames 150 Steering Committee.

“We’ve got some trees that are starting to fail for [a] number of reasons,” said Sheila Lundt, co-chairwoman of the Ames 150 Steering Committee. “In other places, we just have some newer parks that really don’t have very many trees in them so those [parks] are just getting trees for the first time.”

The group of volunteers met at Gateway Park to learn how to properly plant the trees from landscapers Teri Veysey and Jim Mason, from Country Landscapes in Ames, before getting into small groups to travel to the various parks that were getting new trees.

Gateway Park, River Valley Park and Ada Hayden Heritage Park were some of the parks that gained newly-planted trees.

Country Landscapes and many other nurseries in the area contributed the trees used in the event and the donation cost for each tree was $200. The city of Ames Parks and Recreation Department decided which varieties of trees would be planted in each park to keep the tree population in those parks healthy in times of bad weather and insect infestation.

Lundt said that the volunteers would be planting many kinds of trees including four varieties of oak, hawthorn, birch, elm, linden, and crabapple.

Ashley Shepard and Laura Helmich, AmeriCorps members and Iowa State alumnae in forestry, learned about the tree planting event through the ISU Forestry Club and participated in the event during the volunteer hours.

WebFilings purchased 100 of the trees planted in the event while other businesses and individuals contributed to the project as well. About 65 WebFilings employees took part in the tree planting event as a way to give back to the community.

“It’s cool to think that this [tree] will be here for a long time,” said Michael Leofsky, an information technology specialist at WebFilings, as he was planting a tree.

Even though most of the volunteers at the event had very little experience with planting trees prior to Saturday’s event, they said they all enjoyed the experience of being a part of this special project.

“I have [planted trees] with my family but not for the community before,” said Christy Maze, a customer success manager at WebFilings. “That demonstration that we had was really helpful.”

For over 30 years, Ames has been recognized as a Tree City USA community by the Arbor Day Foundation. This honor is given out to communities all over the country that are committed to preserving trees and keeping areas forested.

“[Saturday’s event] leaves something for the future,” Lundt said. “It lets people think not only about where we’ve been but where we’re going.”