In honor of Arbor Day, Solar Innovations® has come together with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Pennsylvania to help launch the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership.
While Solar Innovations® lives and works green every day, we are always making efforts to give back to the environment and community at every opportunity that we get. Every year we try to hold an event for green holidays like Earth Day and Arbor Day, so this year’s event is no different.
The goal of the 10 Million Trees Partnership is to plant 10 million new trees before the end of 2025 by collaborating with various communities across the Pennsylvania portion of the Bay watershed.
Over the next two weeks, Solar will be planting 500 trees as their contribution to this program. The types of trees include red oak, pin oak, white oak, red maple, Douglas fir, red twig dogwoods, forsythia, and white pine. In order to plant these trees successfully, multiple steps must be taken:
- When the trees arrive, they actually come in bundles inside of boxes that have damp packing material to keep them from drying out. The bundles should be taken out and sprinkled with water before covering them again. You do not want to soak them in water, as that could suffocate them.
- Plant immediately if possible. If you cannot, make sure to keep the roots moist, the seedlings cool, but also keep the seedlings from freezing.
- When planting, make sure to dig a large enough hole so that the roots can spread in a natural position without curling.
- Pack the soil firmly around the roots and add water – make sure to leave no air pockets since that would allow the roots to dry out.
- For more planting tips, make sure to visit Musser Forests, Inc.
In an effort to involve the community in Solar’s tree-planting endeavors, local chapters of the Boy and Girl Scouts in Schuylkill County will be assisting on Solar’s 36+ acre campus. The Schuylkill County chapter of Trout Unlimited will also be assisting with the planting of the trees.