Listen to thisEvery now and then, someone comes along with a hot
idea that just plain makes sense. Deborah Williamson came up with one
three years ago. She was working for the Kentucky court system,
processing paperwork on juvenile offenders who do community service in
lieu of going to court.
"In talking with the kids,” Williamson recalls, “they expressed a desire
to do their public service outdoors. So actually the idea came from the
kids.” The idea she's referring to is Target Green, a program in which
first-time juvenile offenders plant trees to reclaim abandoned land such
as strip mines and gravel pits. Since the program started in 1988, the
kids have planted 114,000 seedlings.
Forty-one other states have expressed interest in the idea. Virginia has
started a similar program, Michigan has legislation pending to set one
up, and Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Albany, New York, are in the
process. Byron Hestevold of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has been helping get
the word out. He credits Williamson as being the “dynamic person who
made this go.” Paper companies like Westvaco help out on occasion by
providing trees. “The word is out that we can use trees and can get them
in the ground,” says Williamson. Local restaurants sometimes send over
lunches for the participants.
When Georgia-Pacific had some yellow pines to give away, the company
phoned Emily Mead of President Bush's tree-planting program, and she put
them in touch with Williamson. Yellow pines do not do well in Kentucky,
but the company offered to grow oak seedlings, which are suited, if
Target Green would collect acorns.
“We couldn't get enough juvenile offenders together quickly, says
Williamson, so I called an environmental educator with the state, who got
school kids from some 30 school districts to collect 10,000 acorns. The state
nurseries are growing the seedlings, and Georgia-Pacific is paying for it. Our
kids will plant them this fall.”
Target Green's second project back in 1988-planting 25,000 trees
statewide was funded by a grant from AFA's Global ReLeaf Fund. “That
enabled us to get the word out to more juvenile officers,” notes
Williamson. Planting trees has been a lifelong love for Deborah
Williamson, 33, who studied wildlife management before settling on a
master's degree in anthropology at the University of Cincinnati. For her
degree she took urban studies and worked with young people at a housing
project. She did some field work in Kentucky, then took the job with the
court system ...
"People ask me what the heck trees and the court have to do with each
other,” she says. “They don't understand the connection. You have to
take a holistic perspective when you deal with kids to find out what
kind of program will benefit them – find out their interests, where
they're from – and not just a punitive approach.” Foresters
volunteer to supervise the plantings to make sure the seedlings survive.
Some of the young people have ended up with summer jobs at state parks
arranged by the volunteers.
The participants also mulch and water trees already planted. In addition
to abandoned lands, the sites have included convents, schools, nursing
homes, post offices, and housing projects.
Approximately 1,000 young people statewide have participated so far. A
University of Michigan graduate student is doing a study to determine
whether the program is reducing repeat offenses. Preliminary data from
one county indicates that 94 percent of Target Green participants are
staying out of court versus a statewide average of 88 percent.
Williamson is investigating possibilities for expanding the program by
involving adult offenders who would grow the seedlings in prison. She also
wants to bring in a college professor to talk about ozone depletion “so the
kids know the significance of what they're doing”. Deborah Williamson
feels strongly about trees and the environment. She says, “We all take. This
is a chance to give something back.”
This feature: American Forests, July-August, 1991
