CINCINNATI, Ohio — The goal of the “Taking Root” campaign is to plant two million trees by the year 2020 in the eight-county Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana (OKI) region.

The reason for this is the disastrous loss of trees in that area because of emerald ash borer and other invasive species, as well as severe weather events. “We’re losing around 20 to 40 percent of our canopy with the loss of ash trees in this area,” said Scott Beuerlein, horticulturist, Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens.

“We’re losing a genus of trees that is host to 400 species of insects. When you remove them from the ecosystem, how that extrapolates down through wildlife and other things, no one can really answer.”

Many of the forests in the area are predominately ash, and they are typically the larger trees in the forest, Beuerlein said. Where there are beech and maple they’ll release and fill in – but there will also be a flourishing of invasive species such as honeysuckle.

“So, this is a significant change to a lot of our woods and green spaces around here,” he explained. “It’s been a perfect storm for trees lately – in addition to emerald ash borer we have Asian longhorned beetle in Clermont County that’s been responsible for the removal of tens of thousands of trees.

“There are 17 genera of trees that that insect can take out. Also, we’ve had our share of bad droughts in the last 10 years, very significant, and ice storms.”

The Cincinnati Zoo, The Green Umbrella (a regional sustainability alliance), OKI Regional Council of Government and the Green Partnership of Greater Cincinnati came together with the idea of planting two million trees by 2020, said Daniel Kloepfer, Taking Root coordinator. Since then other businesses, individuals and organizations have come on-board.

“The idea of two million trees came from there being about two million residents in the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana region,” Kloepfer said. “We are trying to raise awareness, to be advocates for the planting of trees. We’ve had an incredible response.”

Reasons for planting trees include that they moderate temperatures around buildings and improve air quality; reduce storm water runoff; stabilize slopes and stream banks; and sustain wildlife. Other goals of the campaign are to better manage and conserve existing forests and to promote the benefits of healthy trees.

The Taking Root organization is not necessarily planting the trees itself. Rather, the steering committee of about 15 people, many of them horticulture experts, are offering advice on tree selection, the best places to buy trees and making people aware of tree giveaways and sales.

Butler County extension, park districts, civic organizations and others have joined to promote tree plantings. These can then be registered on the Taking Root website. The current tree count is 56,932.

“We’re not recommending certain trees,” Beuerlein said. “We’d like to see a diversity of trees. The problems we’ve had have been compounded because of our reliance on a small handful of tree species. Elms were the primary street tree in the 1930s,  and that caused a lot of loss.

“Plant the best tree for your site, so long as it is not invasive.”

For information, visit www.takingroot.info