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Garden District working to save Live Oak trees, needs help raising money

2 years 8 months 2 weeks ago Wednesday, July 14 2021 Jul 14, 2021 July 14, 2021 6:40 PM July 14, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - There's work being done in the Garden District to help restore the Live Oak trees, but there's still a lot more work to do.

If you have driven through Baton Rouge's Garden District you have probably noticed the gorgeous tree-lined streets. Even though the trees are on city-parish medians, the Garden District Civic Association says it's up to the neighborhood to care for them.

The Live Oaks were laid out and planted by a developer in the early 1900s and have grown into the impressive sight they are today.

"It's the crowning jewel of the Garden District," said President of the Garden District Civic Association Claire Pittman.

For the last 20 years, the Garden District Civic Association has been trying to work out a plan to care for them. Pittman says it's the neighborhood's civic duty to do so after learning a few years ago that some of the trees are in trouble.

"That's when we met with the arborist. They said some of these trees are sick and what we can do is trim that dead wood and really restore them," Pittman said.

That work has already begun. The Civic Association started the Live Oak Love Collective to bring awareness and help raise money to restore the trees. Earlier this year, 18 of the Live Oaks in the Garden District were pruned, fertilized, and mulched.

Pittman says it made a significant difference in those areas after the ice storm. There were fewer fallen limbs on the pruned trees compared to the rest of the trees that haven't been tended to.

There's still plenty of work to do, and it's no small project. The Live Oak Love Collective is looking to raise $175,000 to take care of the 165 trees in the neighborhood that still need to be pruned.

It's why Pittman is calling on her neighborhood to help out.

"We are enjoying the shade. We are enjoying the beauty of them, and now it's time if everybody could chip in we could care for them so they'll be around for another 100 years," she said.

More information about how you can donate can be found on the Garden District Civic Association website.

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