Lots of good news for local oaks

Project Quercus is all about preserving and regenerating the oak woods of the county. And, as we have been saying for a couple of years, the only way we are going to have oaks as a significant part of the local landscape 100 years from now is if individuals, local governments and local businesses all step up to do what they can.

Just this week, we had two perfect examples of how the community can step up -- and, frankly, how some in the community want to step up and help.

On Earth Day, April 22nd, Infinity Day Spa in Crystal Lake, and Ohana Farms near Marengo teamed up with TLC to plant 20 white oak saplings at Ryders Woods Conservation Area in Woodstock. That's Robin Tessmann from Infinity - the awesome spa owner who closed her business for a few hours so her staff could come out to plant the trees. They did it as a promotion for their customers, so each tree was dedicated to someone. Ohana donated the 2-year old, bare-root trees, TLC brought the shovels, buckets and flags, and the City of Woodstock supplied the mulch. There are a lot of big, old white oaks in the park, but no young trees, so it will be nice to see some young 'uns growing there too! The NW Herald did an article about it but forgot to mention TLC...

The second example also happened on Earth Day, when OWC (Other World Computing) made a donation to TLC to support the planting of 20 oaks at Westwood Conservation Area on Saturday May 16th! Thanks to OWC employee Kayleen Ivers for asking TLC about this, and for working with us to make it happen.

There is a nice story about it on OWC's blog which is read by their customers across the country: http://blog.macsales.com/. OWC built a new office and warehouse last year, meeting all of the environmental and energy efficiency standards necessary to achieve LEED Platinum certification through the US Green Building Council. That's a really big deal in the construction world.

Their heating and cooling is geothermal, they are planning to install a wind turbine system to generate electricity, the building is super insulated, the grounds include native plantings, AND they are making investments in the community where they are located to support sustainability here too.

TLC is happy to be a part of these local businesses' efforts to "green" the community!!