Who would know that preventing water evaporation and maintaining a moist soil level was as easy as adding a readily available, cost free, and environmentally friendly product?
The City of Laredo Parks and Recreation and Public Works Departments have developed a joint mulching program that preventing soil erosion, minimizes water evaporation, and returns to the earth that which is rightfully hers.
"Actually, it was the city manager's idea to utilize the existing mulch for our own parks," explained Parks and Recreation director Horacio de Leon, Jr.
The process begins with the Public Works recycling division utilizing discarded Christmas trees, branches, tree trunks, and leaves to create the biodegradable bark mulch.
Best of all, the environmentally friendly product is abundantly available and costs nothing. In addition to the efforts of the Public Works department, Central Power and Light/AEP embodies good corporate citizenship by also contributing bark mulch to the moisture retention plan.
"Don Fields of CPL AEP, and a Tree Board member, has been very instrumental in providing mulch for our program," said de Leon. "The electric company is always trimming trees and converting the branches into mulch. Don realized his company could help the environment not only by creating the mulch but by allowing the Parks and Recreation department to use it for landscaping."
Through Fields' efforts, CPL AEP also assists the Parks and Recreation department by trimming trees outside the reach of the limited machinery in the department. "They're able to reach certain heights beyond our current capabilities and it's a big help," added de Leon.
The Parks and Recreation Department incorporated the recycled mulch into their parks maintenance program reducing erosion and evaporation. The bark mulch is applied at the base of a tree to a depth of about four inches, leaving a small gap between the ring of mulch and the tree trunk to prevent diseases from developing and allowing the tree to breathe.
Through the implementation of this eco-friendly program, the Parks and Recreation Department sets an example for earth friendly, water conserving gardening in Laredo. The multi-purpose beautifying bark mulch can also be used for flowerbeds, landscape designs, and trails.
The free bark mulch is normally available at the City landfill or behind the main Public Library. The best time to stock-up on the mulch is immediately following the Christmas holidays when the recycling program generates an abundance of the valuable insulator.