The TreeVitalize initiative to plant one million trees is branching into three additional metropolitan areas in Pennsylvania this spring, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said this week.

 

Grants for tree planting are being provided by DCNR to the Harrisburg/Carlisle, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Johnstown/Altoona areas.

 

"We're really encouraged by the growing interest in TreeVitalize across the state," DCNR acting Secretary John Quigley said at an Arbor Day tree planting event in Wilkes-Barre. "Communities have come to recognize the tremendous values trees provide to the way we feel about where we live, as well as their role in controlling stormwater, and cleaning the air and water.

 

"There's a lot to be learned by planting a tree," Acting Secretary Quigley said. "It helps people understand how valuable our natural resources are, how we need to take care of them, and how each of us can do our part."

 

TreeVitalize Metros is a partnership of DCNR, Penn State Forestry Extension, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and local governments.

 

The program aims to help revitalize urban areas by increasing tree cover with a goal of 1 million new trees planted statewide by 2012. Tree cover refers to the percentage of land shaded by trees and shrubs.

 

TreeVitalize Metros provides matching grants for tree-planting and technical assistance to help establish urban forest management programs.

 

The following investments are being made this spring through DCNR's community conservation partnerships grant program:

 

-- Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission, $100,000 to implement a tree

planting program in the Altoona and Johnstown metropolitan areas;

 

-- Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, $200,000, to implement a tree planting program in the Scranton-Wilkes Barre metropolitan area;

 

-- Dauphin County Parks Department, $130,000 and Cumberland County Planning Office, $100,000, for tree planting in the Harrisburg-Carlisle metropolitan area.

 

Tree planting events also occurred today at the Vernon St. Playground in Harrisburg and at Myo Park in Millersburg.

 

Launched in 2004 in southeastern Pennsylvania, TreeVitalize already has achieved its goal of planting 20,000 trees in that five-county region. In spring 2008, TreeVitalize expanded to the Pittsburgh region; in fall 2008 it was expanded to the Lehigh Valley, Erie and Lancaster metropolitan areas. By the end of this year, it will be launched in metropolitan areas statewide.

 

For more information, visit the TreeVitalize website.