More than 300 fruit trees planted in Highland Park

According to Feeding Louisiana an estimated 683,110 people in Louisiana live with food insecurity, 234,120 are children. Caddo Commissioner John-Paul Young recently lead an effort to plant more than 300 fruit trees in Highland Park. He thinks this is a step in the right direction to help that situation. “I live in a poor neighborhood, my neighbors are poor, and I see that people live in ill health here because of diet,” said Young. He hopes these trees can provide some relief, “You could just pick some fruit and eat it or give it to your kids.”

Plum, fig, peaches, and apple are among the trees selected for the Shreveport climate.

Young also knows this will help with the erosion problem that the park has faced in recent years.

The land was prepared with the help of David Strong Construction’s, David Strong Jr., “His immediate understanding of the function of the infrastructure he was creating was essential to the success of the project,” Young said, adding “the generosity of his company with time, energy, and resources (especially the mountains of wood chips) was much more than even I had hoped for.”

Dozens of people, some from the Krewe of Highland, others from the Boy Scouts Troup 15, joined early Saturday morning to help with the planting.

Corinne Carroll had planted trees before but never as many as she did that Saturday morning. Her husband is the troop leader of Boy Scouts Troop 15, whose den is located on the edge of the park. They not only helped with the planting but will help with the maintenance.

“I think this project will be incredible for the park. I think that we need more visionaries like John Paul Young and Matthew Lynn (Krewe of Highland),” said Carroll, “Not just have ideas that never come to fruition. These literally will come to fruition because they are fruit trees.”

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Highland Park now has hundreds of fruit trees