Planting Roots

Russ Ringland would like you to think of all the beautiful buildings and homes his company, Ringland Construction, has built over the last 20 years.

But many people know Ringland as the man who has led a small army of volunteers to plant more than 7,000 trees in Cape Coral over the last eight years. “I was green before it was cool,” Ringland laughs.

Ultimately, Ringland, 45, says he hopes to plant 20,000 trees through an urban forestry program he launched in 2004. Most of the trees will be planted along the Veterans Parkway corridor in Cape Coral, a stretch of road that was denuded of vegetation when builders widened the highway.