Planting seeds of growth

Clark County

So you know

• Ecotech employees will be planting trees at 10 a.m. Friday, April 27, in New Albany as part of the city’s Clean and Green Program. The event will take place at MainSource Bank, 100 E. Spring St. in New Albany

Discussion

Add a comment on this story

April 25, 2012

Planting seeds of growth

Tree initiative starting in Henryville

By BRADEN LAMMERS braden.lammers@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Wed Apr 25, 2012, 05:15 PM EDT

HENRYVILLE — Damaged homes have been torn down, the framing for their replacements are beginning to appear and buildings are being repaired nearly two months after tornadoes swept through the northern portions of Clark County.

But one thing that had been damaged had not been addressed until Wednesday — replacing the trees destroyed by the March 2 tornadoes.

Ecotech Waste Logistics announced it has launched an initiative to plant 10,000 trees in the region throughout the next decade, starting with an effort in Henryville.

“Because of this devastating event we have thought a long time about something we can do to participate with the schools,” said Bryan Slade of Ecotech.

The announcement, which took place at Henryville High School, also provided a glimpse of how quickly the community has begun to rebuild. West Clark Community Schools Superintendent Monty Schneider announced that the district plans to have the 1,300 students that attend Henryville Junior-Senior High School back in the building when classes are scheduled to begin Aug. 7.

“Our school has come a long way since March 2 and we do have hope of getting in at the end of summer,” he said. “Normally for a school building, it takes 18 months to two years to build a school building. We think we’ll be ready to be in here by Aug. 6.”

The Aug. 6 date is the first scheduled day for teachers in West Clark, but Schneider said the school will actually need to be completed a week or two before classes are scheduled to begin in order to set up the building. He added that as classrooms are finished, equipment will be moved into the classrooms, and even if the school is not ready by the self-imposed deadline, students will be able to continue in their temporary classrooms at Graceland Baptist Church in New Albany and Mid-America Science Park in Scottsburg.

However, Schneider said he was pretty confident construction would be complete by early August.

“Nothing has been moved up, except we do have a date to shoot for,” he said. “Buildings can be renewed fairly quickly, although much quicker than I expected. Trees can’t be; so this is an important thing.”

Which is why Ecotech President Robert Lee said the company began the initiative, which coincides with the company’s 15-year anniversary.

“The structures, the school, everyone that works on trying to rebuild the confidence in the community ... it [can] happen in a few months,” he said. “But what you can’t replace in a hurry is the destruction that happened to the trees here.”

Lee added that behind Henryville High School about six to 10 trees will be planted, but they will wait until after the reconstruction of the school is complete.

“This is something that will come about in the next few months,” he said. “Surely with the devastation that has happened in this particular area, we think a substantial amount of the trees would be coming to the Henryville [and] Marysville area.”

In addition to planting trees in the tornado-affected areas of Clark County, Ecotech will be planting trees throughout Southern Indiana, Louisville and Northern Kentucky. Lee said the company is asking for public input to decide where the trees will be planted. He was unable to give an estimate at how much the initiative will cost.

For contact information, visit ecotechky.com or call 502-935-1130.