Where many people might notice a small, nondescript meadow adjacent to Route 281 near the bridge crossing the Youghiogheny River at Confluence, Somerset County, Barbara Wallace spies an opportunity to create a wildlife friendly habitat.

“We don’t like grass,” said Wallace, an environmental educational specialist with Ohiopyle State Park in southwestern Pennsylvania which owns the small parcel. “We want native shrubs and trees that provide food and cover for birds and other wildlife.”

Armed with spades, saplings and shrubs, the West Penn Power Green Team – a group of employees who volunteer their time and talents for environmental initiatives – joined Wallace and other park employees on an unseasonably warm November morning to transform the field into a habitat for songbirds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators.

The Green Team toiled for several hours, breaking sod and planting Pennsylvania native trees such as sycamore, tulip poplar, river birch and cottonwood.

The volunteers also planted flowering inkberry holly, nannyberry and redosier dogwood shrubs that produce edible berries and create thickets to feed and shelter birds and mammals.

The day’s efforts will help West Penn Power parent FirstEnergy Corp. exceed an ambitious goal to plant 20,000 trees throughout its six-state service territory in 2022.

The number stands at about 23,000.

“I love Ohiopyle,” said Carrie Friedline, an executive assistant and Green Team volunteer as she took a breather from swinging a heavy pick to punch a hole for an inkberry seedling. “All the scenery. I ride my bike here. It’s where my husband proposed to me. I like getting out in nature, and this was a perfect opportunity.”

Once the 75 tiny trees and shrubs were in the ground, volunteers encircled them with plastic tubes to protect the tender vegetation from browsing deer.

“It’s just enough so they can’t stick their nose down in there,” Wallace said.

Wallace thanked the volunteers as they packed up their tools and got ready to leave. “We’re all about cooperation, we get a lot of work done in a small amount of time.”

Satisfied, Wallace surveyed the newly planted field that was part of Route 281 before the old iron bridge was replaced by the nearby modern concrete span, shifting the road. “This was an old roadbed, not delightful,” she said.

Give it a couple years.

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[Posted: December 12, 2022]

12/19/2022