To help celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, TAPPI, TREES Atlanta, RockTenn, Valmet, and members of the Dekalb County, Ga., USA, community teamed up on February 27 to plant 100 trees in Decatur, Ga. The trees represent the 100 years that TAPPI members in the global pulp, paper, packaging, tissue, and allied industries have worked to sustain parks and forests.

More than 40 volunteers worked together to plant the trees on Ponce de Leon Ave., between Scott Blvd. and Sam’s Crossing. RockTenn, Valmet, and other individual and corporate sponsors donated a total of $10,000 to provide the trees and other materials for the event.

TAPPI initiated the event to increase awareness of how the paper and allied industries help sustain well-managed forests. Based in Peachtree Corners, Ga., TAPPI’s members include technical and management professionals at many Atlanta companies and organizations, including RockTenn.

"Trees are the most abundant, renewable, natural resource on our planet, and throughout the years our industry has been dedicated to sustainable forest management," said Ben Hopper of TAPPI, who organized the event. "Our goal was to celebrate efforts that the industry, TAPPI, and its members have put forth by doing what we do best—planting trees!"

The TAPPI Foundation "seeded" the event with $1,000 and TAPPI staff members worked with individual and corporate sponsors to raise the remainder of the amount necessary to complete the project. A generous donation of $8,000 from RockTenn ensured the event would occur as planned.

Volunteers who led the event included Chris Luettgen, vice chairman of the TAPPI board of directors; Bill Bohn, president of Valmet North America; Kevin Hudson, VP of forest resources at RockTenn; and Kate Conner, director of development and marketing at Trees Atlanta. In the photo above, Luettgen addresses volunteers during the planting ceremony. In the photo below, volunteers Elaine Emory and Craig McKinney of TAPPI plant one of the 100 trees this past February 27.  

 

Representatives from the sponsoring corporations, TAPPI, and the Dekalb County community assembled prior to planting to receive instruction from Susan Pierce Cunningham of Trees Atlanta on the proper methods of tree planting. Volunteers then broke into groups to dig holes, trim root balls, mulch, and water the trees.

  

Trees Atlanta provided all of the materials for the planting and managed volunteer coordination. Additionally, the organization has committed to tending the trees, including weekly watering, mulching, pruning, and weeding for two years from the time of planting.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, during the past 100 years the amount of U.S. forestland has remained the same at about 750 million acres, even though the U.S. population tripled in that same period. Not coincidentally, for the past 100 years TAPPI and its members have been dedicated to the technical advancement of the pulp, paper, packaging, tissue, and allied industries, including the sustainability of U.S. Forestland.

According to Two Sides North America, a global initiative to promote sustainability and dispel common misconceptions, the U.S. paper industry encourages forest sustainability through its purchase and use of certified wood fiber and by promoting sustainable forest management policies and practices around the globe. Additionally, by providing a dependable market for responsibly grown fiber, the paper industry encourages landowners to continue managing their forestland instead of selling it for development or other non-forest uses.

TAPPI Trees Project honored the strong environmental stewardship of the forest products industry and TAPPI’S own 100 years of service by helping the city of Decatur, Ga., maintain beautifully forested thoroughfares for its residents.