Community Visioning with Trees Forever

The Clarion Pride movement has been at work writing grant applications and helping spruce up the town with paint. Their goals reach beyond trying to get people to tidy up their houses, however; they’ve also reached out to a community visioning organization, Trees Forever, to potentially help improve the appeal and function of some of Clarion’s public areas.

At a meeting on March 15, Peggy O’Neil, the temporary chair for Clarion Pride, introduced Jeff Jensen from Trees Forever. About 30 people attended his talk, where he spoke about the organization’s history and mission.

Trees Forever started in 1998. Since then, they’ve planted 3.4 million trees in Iowa and Illinois. Though planting trees is a big part of their mission, Trees Forever also works with designers and architecture students at Iowa State University to help cities with projects like walking paths, curb designs, memorials, and gardens. Jensen said the overall goal was to improve transportation, which in their vision encompasses movement within a city and the places where people linger. “It’s that sense of place that makes your community unique to you,” he said.

For the full story, see the March 24 edition of the Monitor.