20 Native Trees Planted at Pioneer Park through the Chicago Region Trees Initiative

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Naperville Park District is grateful for a grant from the Chicago Region Trees Initiative, which provided 20 native trees that were planted at Pioneer Park on September 13, 2023. The trees were planted with the assistance of 40 volunteers from EcoSure, a division of Ecolab with corporate offices in Naperville.

The Chicago Region Trees Initiative is a partnership organization established by The Morton Arboretum in 2014 with a mission "to build a healthier, more diverse, and more equitably distributed regional forest." Naperville Park District applied for a tree grant in 2021 for Pioneer Park, which is situated along the West Branch of the DuPage River and is home to a segment of the regional DuPage River Trail, used by thousands of pedestrians, runners and bicyclists annually.

Naperville Park District has been restoring natural areas within Pioneer Park over the past decade, including the wetland, woodland and prairie. The native trees provided by the grant were planted in the wetland along the DuPage River Trail. The diverse species planted included 2 magnolia virginiana (sweetbay magnolia), 4 betula nigra (river birch), 3 carpinus caroliniana (American hornbeam), 2 catalpa speciosa (Northern catalpa), 3 quercus bicolor (swamp white oak), 3 taxodium distichum (bald cypress), and 3 euonymus atropurpureus (Eastern wahoo).

"We are grateful to The Morton Arboretum for providing the trees and organizing the tree planting at Pioneer Park," said Executive Director Brad Wilson. "We also want to thank the volunteers from EcoSure who helped plant these diverse, native trees that will enhance the park and provide many environmental and health benefits."