Lewes will pursue a state grant to reforest a large tract of land, in a move that reinforces the city’s resiliency planning.
The land is located north of the city, and was once farmland. At around 20 acres, it presents an opportunity for Lewes to plant trees and encourage meadowland.
“High winds knock trees over, meadow bounces right back. A fire, meadow bounces right back. Flooding, even with salt water, meadow bounces right back," said Rodney Robinson, a member of the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission. "So it has a tremendous resiliency.”
About 40% of the land would be reserved for meadow, with up to 5,200 native trees planted on the rest.
The grant money is available through the Delaware Forest Service, which will cover 90% of the cost of planting the native trees on part of the 20-acre tract.
The city’s Tree Commissioner, Mardi Thompson, told council members that the grant is a good deal for Lewes.
“They pay 90% of the cost of planting the forest," she said. "They do all the logistics work, all the work of planting it. We keep it mowed for a few years, and then after that, it grows trees.”
Mayor Amy Marasco encouraged council members to include language making it clear the land should be treated as a conservation area and not developed, even though zoning allows some development.
“If they see by our record what our intent was - think about it like a preamble, this is to be really conservation, preserved, open space - then we are incentivizing the intent, but we're also allowing the process that's in place to run its course," she said.
Council voted unanimously to pursue the grant money.
