Announcement of the LSRW Initiative to support state forestry commissions and water utilities by strengthening the forest and drinking water connection through projects that enhance public surface water supplies.

Mulch is organic material placed on the soil’s surface around trees and plants to enhance their growing conditions. Mulch helps maintain soil temperature and moisture, reduce water loss from soil, reduce weed competition, improve soil structure, and give landscapes a clean appearance. Often overlooked, spreading mulch around your trees is one of the easiest and most beneficial techniques that can have great impact on the health and vitality of your trees.

Many homeowners believe that the trees in their landscape have significant economic value for use as lumber or other wood products. These trees, whether pine or hardwood, seem to occupy such a large space in the landscape that it’s difficult to imagine they can’t be used to build houses, furniture or put to some other valuable use. Landowners also hope that this value will help offset the cost of the tree’s removal, which can be very expensive.