Community digs in to plant trees beautifying Magdalena

The village of Magdalena was bustling with activity as more than 75 volunteers from Tree New Mexico, and locals planted 64 trees on residential and public properties on Saturday.

“It was really beautiful to see that many people get together to make our community more beautiful and healthier,” Charlie Blaylock, Magdalena’s assistant fire chief, said.

The Magdalena Fire Department hosted Tree New Mexico as the program’s headquarters, and firefighters helped water the trees on Saturday. The Magdalena Public Library also partnered and supported the event by helping publicize it and holding meetings.

“After hearing that New Mexico is near the bottom of the tree canopy, and in dire need of new trees and all the aspects of having trees, shade, shelter, and pollinators, it reinforced the need for this,” Yvonne Magener, Magdalena Public Library director, said.

Socorro County Options, Prevention and Education (SCOPE) also participated and supplied a pizza lunch for all the volunteers.

This type of community engagement and local partnership is essential to the program.

Tree New Mexico, a private nonprofit tree planting program, was founded in 1990 in Albuquerque and has expanded and evolved over the last couple of years to focus on other small communities in New Mexico. Their goals include increasing canopy in communities, promoting public awareness regarding trees and the environmental role, education and community engagement.

“We did a pilot planting in Socorro last fall, and there were a couple of people from Magdalena there, and they said, ‘Hey, come plant Magdalena.’ So we put Magdalena on our target,” Shannon Horst, executive director of Tree New Mexico, said.

She said the program was founded to address Albuquerque’s rapid canopy loss, one of the fastest in the country, by planting trees and rehabilitating the city’s canopy. The program, called ABQ Neighborhoods, is a public-private partnership involving the City of Albuquerque, arborists, and landscape architects.

The recent goal has been to replicate the program in smaller communities in New Mexico. Horst said they have received funding from the federal government under the Inflation Reduction Act to spread the model to four to six communities in New Mexico over the next five years.

“They’re 15-gallon trees, so they create an immediate effect in a neighborhood, then later in the day, we then give away smaller trees.” Horst said.

Sixty-four fruit trees were given away to locals on Saturday as well.

She said when considering tree varieties, they are thoughtful about what residents want.

“Because if they get something they want, they’re more likely to care for it and we ask what’s available to us? And what will survive in New Mexico? And not only survive now, but survive 50 years from now,” Horst said.

She said they monitor tree survival rates and have an 80-85% success rate over three years.

“Eventually, trees mature, and they put their roots down, and they find the underground sources, but in those first couple of years, you really want to water low and slow. You just drag a hose out there; you put it on there very low and soak all night,” Horst said.

Magener said she will have flyers with information for those who adopted trees on Saturday. People can also bring their pots for recycling at the library. She stressed the trees will need time to adjust to the new elevation and climate.