Seeds are being planted in efforts to make New Orleans a greener place, thanks to the organization SOUL NOLA.

Sustaining Our Urban Landscape is a nonprofit organization that has been working since 2016 to reforest parts of New Orleans. On Oct. 26, they will be celebrating a new milestone of planting their 10,000 trees.

“It gets me emotional. I’m so proud,” founder and executive director of SOUL Susannah Burley said. “I remember our first planting, my husband and I had carried shovels in our cars.”

Burley said she doesn’t remember how many tries they planted that day but knows it wasn’t many. Now, they’re planting almost 2,000 trees. She said this is proof that the communities do want more of these trees.

The organization mostly focuses on planting in frontline environmental justice communities, which are areas most heavily affected by climate change and tend to be communities of color, indigenous, and low-income.

These are especially vital in New Orleans because trees like bald cypress can consume over 800 gallons of water a day. They also reduce temperature, improve air quality, and serve as windbreaks during storms.

Joanne Fleming-Bradley lives in Gentilly Woods and said she has been a huge cheerleader for the organization. She said she volunteers at every planting event she can and thanks those involved for showing up.

Fleming-Bradle said she is excited to witness the 10,000 trees being planted in her neighborhood and hopes this will make people understand the importance of trees. She said this is important in her neighborhood because many people have to walk to stores, banks, and jobs. She said having trees that just provide shade help during the humid, hot summers.

“I hope that in that process, people will actually start to realize the importance of just having shade,” Fleming-Bradley said.