Savannah turning vacant lots into tree nurseries

SAVANNAH — Officials in Savannah are working to grow both jobs and the lush urban forest in Georgia's oldest city by turning vacant lots into tree nurseries.

Funding from a $230,000 grant to promote green jobs is helping the city transform three empty city-owned lots to space for growing trees, the Savannah Morning News reported. The pilot project already has 12 trainees growing 150 bald cypress and black gum saplings at the first site.

The plan is to eventually plant and nurture more than 500 trees that can be re-planted across the city in one to three years. Meanwhile, the trainees tending to the saplings are studying to become certified landscape professionals. There are only a few hundred landscapers who hold that certification across Georgia.

Since December, the Savannah trainees have been earning $13 an hour not just to work in the nurseries, but also to get ready for the certificate exam. Their preparation includes learning soil chemistry as well as Latin names for plants.

"Having a tree canopy like we do, we have a shortage of people who know the ins and outs of arbor care and horticulture," said Nick Deffley, Savannah's sustainability director.

Trainees Vanessa Lawrence and Michael Martin worked together on a recent morning filling 15-gallon pots with soil and tamping it down around bald cypress saplings. "I'm really interested in landscaping now," Lawrence said. "I pray to God I get a job doing it."