Last fall, Sequoyah Hills Elementary School was picked as the spot for the city of Knoxville’s annual Arbor Day Celebration and tree planting. But while the students planted new tulip poplar and redbud trees, some stately old friends were showing signs of distress. It was determined that 18 ash trees at the school – some thought to be 100 years old – were infested with the emerald ash borer.

The invasive beetle has been in the area since 2002, and the city has already lost swaths of trees to its damage. Nationwide, the casualties are in the hundreds of millions and expected to rise into the billions. The not-for-profit environmental organization Trees Knoxville is assisting Knox County and the city of Knoxville in saving the Sequoyah Hills trees. Private donors, including Pattison Sign Group, are also on board.

Tom Welborn and other Trees Knoxville volunteers plant new trees and care for existing trees across the city.

“It would be a significant loss if we lost these trees,” says Trees Knoxville board chair Tom Welborn. Aside from being a prominent part of one of the city’s oldest landscapes, the trees provide shade and contribute to air quality in the neighborhood.

It was first thought that the cost for treating all of the trees would rise to almost $10,000, but Welborn now estimates that by doing the work themselves, his organization and other parties can get the treatment down to about $4,000. This treatment will protect the trees for about four years. Anyone who wants to donate to the Sequoyah trees specifically can earmark their donation to Trees Knoxville for that purpose.

Trees Knoxville was founded in 2016 to protect the city’s tree canopy (in partnership with public and private landowners) and educate the public about the benefits of having healthy trees around. In 2017, the organization engaged with more than 100 volunteers in planting and caring for local trees, and it certified 40 “volunteer foresters.”

Last month Trees Knoxville and Knoxville Botanical Garden teamed on behalf of the Tennessee Environmental Council to distribute trees to more than 80 local families for 250K Tree Day.

For more information about Trees Knoxville, visit www.treesknoxville.com.