On Saturday, April 19, a formidable planting posse will converge at the southeast corner of Rt. 282 and Dowlin Forge Road in East Brandywine Township.
Organized by the Brandywine Conservancy, the group will plant 600 native trees along the east branch of the Brandywine at a property owned by East Brandywine Township. Volunteers from Guardians of the Brandywine, Victory Brewing Company, West Chester University, and East Brandywine Township will dig holes, situate the trees and install protective tubing around them, a Brandywine Conservancy news release said.
The planting will begin at 9 a.m. A brief ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. The planting will mark the 25,000th tree in the conservancy’s five-year reforestation campaign, achieving that goal ahead of schedule. The conservancy has other plantings taking place this spring, with 2,760 trees yet to be planted in April and May.
On May 3 at 9:00 a.m., the conservancy will oversee the planting of 600 trees in Pennsbury Township at Pennsbury Mill/Craigs Mill, historic structures on permanently protected open space with volunteers from the Pennsbury Land Trust and Pennsbury Township, an initiative funded through the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society TreeVitalize Program.
The conservancy’s reforestation campaign extends logically from its focus on preserving land and water. Reforesting the watershed helps restore water quality. In particular, reforesting steep slopes and riparian areas (strips of land immediately adjacent to a stream) are targeted in the conservancy’s campaign because these specific areas are especially vulnerable to erosion, and, when reforested, prevent sedimentation and can filter out pollutants from entering waterways, the release said. For more information, visithttp://www.brandywinemuseum.org/news2014/news263.html.
