City of Gadsden to plant over 200 trees at defunct steel plant site

GADSDEN, Ala. ( WIAT ) — The Alabama Forestry Commission's Trees4AL program is helping the city of Gadsden plant over 200 native trees at the site of a former steel plant.

The city made the announcement Wednesday about the $80,000 grant it was awarded for its program called "STEEL PLANT," which means Sowing Transformative Environmental Elements Leveraging Planted Lush and Native Trees. The trees will grow in the Alabama City neighborhood.

"Adding native tree canopy to this long-blighted property will not only improve quality of life and the environment around the steel plant property, but it will beautify that entire corridor," Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford said in a statement. "With the Downtown Gadsden Greenway coming right through there along Black Creek, drainage improvements planned in South Gadsden, and new sidewalk and roadway infrastructure nearby, these individual projects are coming together to redefine the entire area around the old steel plant."

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The plan is for 250 native trees to flourish on the abandoned perimeter parcels of the defunct steel plant. They will increase the shade canopy on the western banks of Black Creek.

Previously, the city revealed it accepted a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program. The money is designated for the Downtown Gadsden Greenway, which push the Black Creek Trail system at Noccalula Falls into downtown.