CSX Volunteers Brave Rains to Plant 200 Trees in Miami

More than 100 volunteers from CSX braved torrential rains and unseasonably cold South Florida temperatures to join forces with the Alliance for Community Trees (ACT), TREEmendous Miami, City Year and students and teachers from the Maritime and Science Technology (MAST) Academy on January 9 to plant more than 200 trees in an effort to restore native species on Virginia Key.

The tree planting is part of CSX "Trees for Tracks," a promise to plant 21,000 trees: one for every mile of track in the railway's system.

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Virginia Key is home to the blue ribbon Grades 9-12 High School that recently was named the 49th best high school in the country by Newsweek, the Miami Seaquarium, and its acclaimed manatee rescue, Save the Manatee Club and critical and endangered aquatic species. All of Biscayne Bay is a Manatee Protection Zone, and the Miami Seaquarium received extensive media coverage on December 9 when it released "Ilya the Wayward Manatee."

"This project was the largest 'Trees for Tracks' effort to date," says Tori Kaplan, director of corporate citizenship for CSX. "We were proud to be part of such a coordinated and necessary initiative to protect vital habitat, save native species and provide educational opportunities for area high school students."

"The MAST Academy provides a great opportunity to demonstrate how beautiful and unique South Florida native plants are," says Alice Ewen, director of Alliance for Community Trees (ACT). "The newly planted native trees will help filter and slow water runoff and allow for greater ground water recharge, while providing valuable habitat for birds and other species."

The volunteers planted 200 Mastic, Black Ironwood, Buccaneer Palm, Gumbo Limbo, Pigeon Plum, Inkwood, West Indian Cherry, Sargent's Cherry Palm, Fiddlewood, Wild Lime and other plant species endangered in Florida, ranging in size from 3-25 gallon and up to 10 feet in height.

The more than 35 native trees, shrubs and herbaceous perennials, in addition to improving the local habitat, will serve as a living classroom for the Miami magnet school. "These species are particularly well-adapted to the unique South Florida climate and the island's coastal habitat where plants must endure frequent tropical storms and hurricanes and persistent salt spray. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma were particularly hard on nonnative trees," says Wafa Khalil, Ph.D., the solar energy Instructor at MAST. "Students will learn about the ecological and practical value of native species."

"Virginia Key and Biscayne Bay are some of Florida's amazingly beautiful and valuable natural resources," says Thomas Fisher, Principal of MAST Academy. "This planting is another project that proves that when the entire community works together, we can do extraordinary things to improve our environment."

Despite the weather, participants saw the project as extremely beneficial. In an internal City Year Survey, 100 percent of respondents rated the "opportunity to give back to the community" as "best" or "good."

The tree planting is part of CSX "Trees for Tracks," a promise to plant 21,000 trees (one for every mile of track in the railway's system) over the next five years. Other "Trees for Tracks events" have been completed in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore and other communities in the CSX system.