Mayor Wilson Joins Ivory Homes, TreeUtah, Mayor Mendenhall in Planting Trees After Windstorm

Posted By Regional Development
October 10, 2020

Around 170,000 Utah residents were impacted by the September windstorm with loss of power – most of those in Salt Lake County. The County mobilized quickly to provide residents and municipalities with emergency protective measures, like warming centers, and repairing traffic signals as more than $4 million in damage from the hurricane-force winds was assessed

Each of our 103 parks saw damage and debris from the wind event. The loss of trees in parks and green spaces, which stood witness to generations of Salt Lake County families, was heartbreaking.

Nearly $400,000 has been spent to remove fallen trees and debris from public streets, parks, as well as storm drains, canals and streams to mitigate against flooding. Salt Lake County Public Works crews have taken nearly 700 loads of debris to the landfill – with Salt Lake County and Millcreek debris alone totaling 2.5 tons.

This hasn’t been our first challenge or emergency of the year, though; and the community has responded with a resiliency that mirrors Mother Nature.

On Saturday, Oct. 10 Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson joined Salt Lake City Mayor Mendenhall, Clark and Christine Ivory, and TreeUtah to plant 29 new trees at West Point Park. The occasion marked Ivory Home's 10,000th tree planted in Utah.

"We appreciate the outreach from Ivory Homes to find tree projects outside of SLC as well as their $10,000 contribution," Mayor Wilson said.

Southridge Park and Oquirrh Park in Kearns are two westside locations where new tree planting plans are in place, in addition to those underway in Millcreek and West Valley City.

Salt Lake County will continue to restore these green spaces into next year with the help of municipalities and great partners like the ones gathered together on Oct. 10.