Tree Planting!

Bare spots are found everywhere in Pennsylvania. After building, mining, and logging the cleared spots are left alone without the necessary resources to provide for the local environment. Students from Blacklick Valley Highschool volunteered their time and energy to plant 300 trees at the Lorraine Refuse Pile. Conservation District employee, Brian, gave the students a demonstration on how to plant a tree and then the students got to work. Groups of three to five students grabbed some trees to go off and plant on the hillside. Once the hill was covered in small trees, the students got a chance to explore a local stream looking for different insects and at the stream quality.

As of now, the trees are only about two feet and are marked with flagging. Within the next few years they will begin to take root and grow up, providing food and shelter for local wildlife as well as helping with the aesthetics of the pile. Within a few years, this pile will be able to blend in with the numerous forest covered hills across Pennsylvania. 

 Planting trees is not only good for aesthetic and wildlife purposes, but it’s also good for the environment.  Planting trees here can help to filter the water going into the local watershed from the pile. This will prevent pollution and contaminants that are found in that pile from ever reaching the watershed. The trees will also help with erosion of the soil as their root systems begin to grow and hold the soil together. This will prevent soil from going into the watershed and clogging up areas in the stream system.

Black Lake Valley Highschool left around noon in high spirits and wanting to continue to do their part in planting trees next spring.