Although much different than last year’s Tree Seedling Sale, Buncombe County Soil and Water Conservation District worked hard to make it a success even when dealing with the limitations imposed by COVID-19. The seedling sale is an annual fundraiser selling seedling of many varieties, including blueberry, strawberry, rhubarb, dogwood, elderberry, persimmon, oak, birch, pear, and more. This year Soil and Water sold out of 9,620 seedlings and made over $7,500 in profit.

COVID-19 created some creative opportunities for staff to make sure customers received their seedlings safely. For instance, customers had to order online and were assigned socially distanced parking spaces to pick up their seedlings while staff wore facial coverings at all times when in proximity to both each other and customers.

The best part, the profits from the sale support Soil and Water’s environmental education programming, including:
• Resource conservation workshop at NCSU
• Careers in Conservation scholarship
• National Envirothon sponsorship
• Camp Wild transportation
• Local area Envirothon
• Organic Growers School scholarship
• School-based stormwater wetlands program

To learn more about environmental educational programs that Soil and Water staff work diligently to provide, or to get to the front of the line for next year’s Tree Seedling Sale, make sure to visit buncombecounty.org/soil.

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