Trees Planted on State Gamelands
The
Greene County Chapter of PA CleanWays teamed with the Greene County
Watershed Alliance to plant 102 trees on State Gamelands 223, located
along Interstate 79, in October, 2001.
Visitors
don't hear the roar of truck and car traffic, but the sounds of Whitely
Creek, which is surrounded by woodlands and a broad meadow of goldenrod
and tall grass. It is a beautiful spot in which to fish, and the purpose
of the tree planting was to make the area even more hospitable to fish
and fishermen alike. White pine, ash, hackberry, and red maple, varieties
not voraciously consumed by their native deer population, were planted
on the banks of the Whitely, creating a "riparian buffer" to link land
and water habitats together. The trees will provide shade, prevent stream
bank erosion, and improve the aquatic habitat for stocked fish.
Evelyn Andrianos, who organized the event and is an officer in both
CleanWays and the Watershed Alliance, was impressed by the participants.
"These guys had all the trees planted in under two hours," she said.
Chuck Swope attended with wife Marjorie and daughter Hannah. Hannah
is home schooled, which her dad says is "as much demanding, if not more
so, than the public school curriculum." It's enabled the Swopes to "tailor
things" to Hannah's interests while still following the state-mandated
curriculum. (She enjoys science.) Jason Imhoff, Nick Wademan, and Rob
Schiffbaur assisted to fulfill the community service requirements of
the National Honor Society. The teens comprise Carmichaels Junior-Senior
High School's Envirothon team, part of their environmental science class
taught by Kevin Willis. Two teams from each Greene County School District
choose to investigate such topics as wildlife, aquatics, soils, forestry,
and the impact on biodiversity of introduced species. Teams from each
district compete and the best gets to participate in a statewide competition.
Pizza Outlet in Waynesburg furnished free pizza for the volunteers.
This page last updated:
January 27, 2004
