Keep Cass County Beautiful Electronics Collection - June 2

Keep Cass County Beautiful and local volunteers recently helped the Louisville community plant 31 native trees at the new Louisville Ash Grove Ball Complex. The supply of trees was made possible by a $5,000 Keep America Beautiful/UPS Community Tree Grant, a $500 Black Hills Energy grant and the Nebraska ReTree program. The project helps support KCCB’s mission to engage individuals in building and sustaining vibrant communities that are clean, green and beautiful places to live.

Trees at the new ballfield will provide shade and beauty for local fans, plus offer habitat for local wildlife, shelter, prevent soil erosion, reduce levels of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. A variety of species were selected including hackberry, coffeetrees, oaks, American elms, bald cypress, maples, and sycamore trees. The tree planting project is the culmination of many hours of planning and construction to provide a new three-field ball complex that will replace the old single field that accommodated 22 baseball and softball teams in the community.

The project was made possible by Keep America Beautiful, UPS, Black Hills Energy, Nebraska ReTree, the Louisville Ball Association Board, city of Louisville employees, Jensen Gardens, Soil Dynamics, Timber Ridge Log Homes, Keep Cass County Beautiful and local volunteers.

The UPS Foundation has been a supporter of Keep America Beautiful since 2004. The corporation’s leadership in environmental issues and outstanding efforts to promote and sustain volunteerism in America earned UPS the Keep America Beautiful Vision for America Award in 2007. In 2008, The UPS Foundation realigned its global strategy and announced a renewed focus on environmental sustainability. In 2017, The UPS Foundation offered Keep America Beautiful affiliates community tree and recovery tree planting grants in the amount of $120,000. Keep Cass County Beautiful received one of 22 national grants that supported the tree planting project in a local Cass County community. 

The culture of Black Hills Energy includes community giving by offering tree grants for local community projects. Black Hills also offers its customers one free tree annually through its Energy-Saving Trees program through a partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation.

ReTree Nebraska is a 10-year cooperative initiative to raise public awareness of the value of trees and reverse the decline and improve the sustainability of community trees and forests. The primary goal of ReTree Nebraska is to work in partnership with citizens to foster the proper planting and maintenance of 1 million new trees by 2017.