If you’ve driven or walked through Blacksburg or Pulaski recently, you may have seen hundreds of green tubes sticking out of the dirt along creeks and fields. These are trees and shrubs planted by the New River Conservancy.
The saplings are all native species, like elderberry, sourwood, magnolia and serviceberry, and form what’s known as riparian buffers. The trees help absorb water and can reduce flooding during heavy rain events, explained Lisa Stansell-Galitz with the New River Conservancy.
“When you think about occurrences like Hurricane Helene that flooded every tributary in the New River watershed,” Stansell-Galitz said. “The more trees we have, the more water they absorb, the less water we have flooding the tributaries, the river, and people’s homes.”
Their group planted over 10,000 trees and shrubs throughout Southwest Virginia this spring in Damascus, Blacksburg, Narrows, Pulaski and Radford. They selected native species that are best suited for each area and that are likely to survive the drought we’re currently experiencing.
“Native trees, they can withstand that better than a non-native tree,” Stansell-Galitz said.
Funding for the project came from the Virginia Department of Forestry, as well as other state agencies and Virginia Tech. Stansell-Galitz said they overplanted because they expect to lose about 40% of the trees from deer, moles and weather conditions.
The green tubes allow sunlight and moisture to get to the saplings and they will remain in place for three years. After that time, they can be reused for future plantings.
