The Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy (BOPC) honors ten “Frederick Law Olmsted Award” recipients who stepped up after the October 12-13, 2006 freak snowstorm in which more than 12,000 trees in the City’s Olmsted-designed park system were damaged by nearly 2 feet of snow. Here’s an excellent video about the storm, its aftermath, the Olmsted Award winners, and the current state of the urban forest that BOPC manages.

Video directed and produced by Lemur Studios

You’ll note one of the honorees is Re-Tree WNY, an all-volunteer group established on November 3, 2006 by a group of about 40 Western New York residents who wanted to respond to the devastation. The group, chaired by radio executive Paul Maurer, has planted 28,112 trees and is working toward its goal of 30,000 trees across the 18 Western NY municipalities affected by the storm. (The goal is expected to be reached by November, 2018.) Some of the other munis affected include Amherst, Williamsville, Tonawanda, Kenmore, Cheektowoga, and Clarence. They have all met their planting goals, with Buffalo not far behind. The 30,000 trees are in addition to replacement trees planted by the munis themselves.

You can read more in an article, “Freak Buffalo Storm Killed over 57,000 Trees, but Most Were Replaced,” by Mark Sommer in The Buffalo News. Also see a related blog post about Ed Dore and Upstate NY’s community tree planting movement.

See Re-Tree WNY to get involved in the final tree planting push to reach 30,000 trees.