CHICO — A citywide fruit gleaning could be in the works to help bring fruit crops to people around the community needing more fresh produce.
Gleaning is gathering leftover crops meant for harvest or in this case gathering fruit from city trees for distribution.
Chico Urban Forester Richie Bamlet said the city is discussing options to work with a nonprofit organization to conduct gleaning and distribution, having recently received a State Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant to conduct a street tree inventory.
“That survey is currently underway,” Bamlet said. “As part of that survey, we have so far identified over 200 fruit trees growing in the city right-of-way.”
These trees carry citrus, persimmon, apples, apricots, loquat, mulberry and other varieties of fruit, he added.
“We know there is a demand for urban fruit; most street fruit trees are picked clean within arm’s reach,” Bamlet said. He added because many fruit trees are up to 30 feet tall so “most of it goes to waste.”
“In a conversation with Butte Environmental Council General Manager Danielle Baxter, I voiced my desire to somehow find a way to get this food resource into the hands of people that want it,” Bamlet said. “This would also benefit the environment by keeping it out of the storm drain system and ultimately our waterways. Danielle put me in touch with Butte County Local Food Network … and we are in early discussions to start an urban forest gleaning project.”
Bamlet added as a result of the partnership with the Environmental Council, the city already provides free citrus and apple trees to Chico residents as part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant — “We’ll be offering that again this coming fall.”
Danielle Baxter said the Council is partnered with Bamlet on a two-year urban forest planting campaign and this project is an example of the opportunities from that partnership.
“It’s a fantastic partnership, core to the Council’s mission in the sense that the health of our local food system directly impacts the health of our environment,” she said. “Growing, buying and distributing food that’s already in our community reduce the carbon footprint it takes to bring in food from other places. It’s incredibly important for us to provide education about food insecurity, social injustice and environmental injustice because they’re all directly related and need to be addressed in conjunction with each other so we can see real progress in those area.”
“My hope is that the work can begin in the fall and the Council will be assisting that though our urban forest internship program,” Baxter said.
Butte County Local Food Network Director Pamm Larry said while it isn’t an official partnership with the city, discussions have been ongoing to see how to distribute fruit to the community. The network would help pick fruit and find ways to get the produce out to residents in need, she said.
Larry added that on top of the existing fruit crop, avocados are also being considered to add to the region’s oil resources as well as for the fruit’s health benefits.
While this project is not yet official, it is hoped to be a productive partnership to address ongoing food supply concerns and use locally grown food while reducing waste.
“I think this could be a great city/ non-profit partnership,” Bamlet said.
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August 10, 2020 at 05:04PM
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Chico considering fruit tree gleaning to distribute food to community - Chico Enterprise-Record
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