Neighbors plant dozens of trees along two university-area streets

The volunteers dug berms and set out rocks along Park and Fremont avenues as they began the first phase of a neighborhood landscape-improvement project. They planted 36 trees.

This is the second consecutive year the neighborhood has planted trees but the first time it has used water-harvesting techniques, said Chris Wilke, a project coordinator for the neighborhood association.

"As soon as we planted trees last year, we decided we needed to plant more," Wilke said. "We changed our process to make it better for water retention."

Before the workers dispersed throughout the neighborhood south of the University of Arizona, Wilke showed them how to build berms and set the rocks.

Wilke thought of the idea to use the water-harvesting techniques, which minimize the amount of water that overflows into the street. "It's the right thing to do in the desert," she said.

The project was paid for by a grant from Tucson's Back to Basics program, she said.

The money will pay for more than 102 trees and 619 shrubs for the neighborhood. The vegetation will include native desert trees such as desert willows, honey mesquites and rosewoods, said Carrie Sturm, a project coordinator for the neighborhood association.

Neighborhood association President Tom Palliser said the project gave the residents a chance to meet one another.

"There are people helping in all kinds of different ways," Palliser said. "I hope it will bring people to more meetings."

The volunteers included representatives from the Tucson Unified School District, students from Mansfeld Middle School and Wildcat School, youth from the Pima County Juvenile Court Center and residents of other central neighborhoods.

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