North Riverfront Park Tree Planting

North Riverfront Park serves as a regional park as well as a critical habitat for birds and pollinators. Once the site of a 10,000 tree planting on Earth Day in 1990, most of those young trees were washed away when the destructive 1993 flood scoured the site. Only small pockets of those original trees remain, leaving the area extremely vulnerable to erosion. As climate change continues to threaten our riparian systems, it is critical to replant with resilient, native species, bringing an increase in natural habitat. 

Along the current Mississippi Greenway, North Riverfront Park welcomes thousands of trail users a year. On Saturday, November 20, 2021, it will also welcome one hundred and thirty (130) new trees to be planted along its bike/walking corridor to create much needed shade, increase biodiversity, and natural beauty. 

Forty (40) of the trees are being sponsored by UPS and the Arbor Day Foundation. The remaining ninety (90) trees are part of Forest ReLeaf and the Great Rivers Greenway’s commitment to replanting vulnerable areas. Employees from UPS will work alongside nearby residents and other interested volunteers between 10am-12pm to plant trees.

We invite you to learn more about the tree species selected by clicking on their names below. If you visit the park during the month of November, you will see signs placed for each of the tree species as well as the proposed tree locations. We encourage you to leave any comment that you may have about their placement in the park by emailing hello@moreleaf.org.

Species Qty
American sycamore 30
Baldcypress 40
Black walnut 30
Bur oak 5
Hackberry 5
Osage orange 10
River birch 30
Swamp white oak 10
Tuliptree 10