Planting will start soon in South End Tree Project

Phase Two of Kent’s Historic South End Tree Project is set to start soon with the addition of over a dozen trees.

Crabapple, serviceberry, swamp white oak and Greenspire Linden trees will be planted on the tree lawns along both sides of West Oak Street north and south of Franklin Avenue. Trees will also be planted on Dodge Street west of Walnut Street and on both sides of Walnut Street between Harris and Cherry streets.

Financing the project are The Davey Tree Expert Co. and Kirk and Rosi Noden, former owners of The Battleground restaurant on Cherry Street. The project is set to start in October, when employees from Davey Resource Group (a Davey Tree subsidiary) will begin digging holes and setting the trees.

Phase One of the tree-planting project had OSU Extension Portage Master Gardeners teaching fifth-grade students at Kent’s Holden Elementary School about nature. Students created poems about the South End’s Thomas-Anderson Memorial Garden, which honors the memories of local residents and serves as a gathering spot, community food source and learning environment.

“We saw this was a grand opportunity to engage with one of the primary employers in the city of Kent and to enhance the community by teaching kids the value of trees and actually planting trees,” said Doria Daniels, chair of Kent’s Historic South End.

Behind the project is the national nonprofit American Forests 2021 tree equity rating scale, which allowed communities to assess how their tree canopy is distributed.

Trees are sparse in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas and in Black neighborhoods. Thanks to redlining policies dating back to the 1930s, that historically included Kent’s South End neighborhood, also known as the city’s ‘mother neighborhood.’

Davey was looking at other locations, but ultimately decided the South End could use a tree or 14, Davey Tree Senior Project Manager Kara Mayle said.

Daniels pulled together a committee that included Hometown Bank Board Chair Howard Boyle, Kent Health Commissioner Joan Seidel, Kent Parks and Recreation Board Member Roderick Moxley, Jr., Kent Environmental Council and Portage Park District boards Member Renee Ruchotzke, former Hometown Bank employee Marilyn Sessions and a Davey Tree representative.

Working with the committee’s guidance, City of Kent Arborist Brad McKay and Mayle chose native trees and worked to determine the specific locations.