New trees, native plants, and mulch are now in Palm Beach County’s Stub Canal Park in West Palm Beach, Florida, thanks to a $5,000 Keep America Beautiful/UPS Community Tree and Recovery Tree Planting Grant.

The Keep America Beautiful/UPS Grant program, now in its ninth year, awarded $160,000 in funds to more than 30 Keep America Beautiful affiliates to support locally-relevant projects. The West Palm Beach park, which includes green space and a boat ramp popular among water skiers, was beautified by local UPS employee volunteers in early October.

“Trees are probably the best fight that we have against things like climate change and also provide a wonderful canopy for the recreational users of our parks here in Palm Beach County,” said Lourdes Ferris, executive director of Keep America Beautiful local affiliate Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful (KPBCB), which managed the project along with the Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department (PBCPRD).

The tree-planting project is located at the 1.8-acre Stub Canal Park, a popular central Palm Beach County freshwater boat launching facility. Stub Canal Park is surrounded by water on two sides and consists of a level open area primarily used for parking.  No formal landscaping had been introduced to the park, with existing onsite vegetation limited to non-native vegetation bordering Stub Canal. The addition of trees at this heavily-used park will provide shade for park patrons, habitat for wildlife, and also provides a buffer from the adjacent interstate.

The native vegetation will enhance the park’s aesthetics and provide users with much-needed shade. The project was designed by KPBCB’s partner PBCPRD’s landscape architect.

Vessels launched from the park have direct access to adjacent Pine Lake as well as water bodies within the Chain of Lakes (COL) system. The COL covers 30 miles from West Palm Beach to Delray Beach and provides for a variety of water-based recreational activities.  

The planting of native vegetation under the guidance of a comprehensive landscape plan will improve the park’s aesthetics and create a more welcoming facility that is in keeping with other County park facilities.
    
For more about this wonderful UPS volunteer project, watch this short video!