POSTED: Saturday, March 28, 2009             LAFAYETTE -- The Lafayette Tree Fund, Inc. vice president Rob Pahl, on behalf of the City of Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski, accepted $20,000 for planting street trees in Lafayette. Ken Richey, Tipmont REMC general manager provide $10,000 grant from Tipmont’s EnviroWatts Board for planting street trees on Twyckenham Blvd and Creasy Lane. Diana Perreiah, operations manager, Alcoa Lafayette Operations, on behalf of the Alcoa Foundation matched the $10,000 Tipmont EnviroWatts Grant. The Alcoa grant is being administered by the Department of Natural Resources, Community Urban Forestry.             The street trees will be planted on Lafayette’s Arbor Day on May 9 at 9 a.m. starting on the corner of Twyckenham Blvd and South Ninth Street. Volunteers and volunteer groups are needed to help plant our 1000th street tree since 1993. Each volunteer will be given the opportunity to receive a sapling from the Department of Forestry, courtesy of Senator Ron Alting.             Other street trees will be planted on Creasy Lane this spring. In the fall, we will plant on Sagamore Parkway and our first neighborhood association. We plan to plant 97 trees in the spring and 50 trees in the fall.             The Lafayette Tree Fund will be developing a pilot project with neighbor-hoods. Starting with Mill Creek Homeowner’s Association. Each participating neighborhood association will appoint a “neighborhood tree leader.” This designee will participate in the planting of trees on Arbor Day and the pruning of street trees. Once he is certified by the Lafayette Tree Fund Board of Directors, he will organize his neighborhood, request to participate in the planting of street trees in their neighborhood, help raise money for street trees, and help teach the care for the street trees in his neighborhood. The greening of Lafayette is an important step to keep our city clean, filter the air we breathe, reduce the carbon footprint of Lafayette, reduce the water run-off into our streams, cool our streets and neighborhoods, reduce the UV on our skin, increase property values, reduce criminal activity, and reduce the energy needs to cool our homes. Our goal: the planting and promoting a healthy community.