The Rotary Club of Harrisburg Keystone successfully “branched out” on Saturday, April 21, to plant a tree for each of its 30 members as part of this year’s Rotary Day of Service. Planning for the project started earlier in the year when we partnered with the Paxton Creek Watershed Education Association. One of their goals is to improve water quality by stabilizing stream banks, and to that end, the association happily offered to donate trees from its nursery for our project.

 

To identify a good location for planting, Keystone reached out to the Capital Area Greenbelt Association to see if there was a need for trees along its 20-mile trail encircling the City of Harrisburg. CAGA members knew of an area along Spring Creek that needed help with more trees for the riparian buffer along the trail. The spot was accessible by vehicle and close to Keystone’s focus service area, Harrisburg’s Alison Hill neighborhood. A CAGA volunteer who also is an environmental biologist marked the locations along the trail for the donated oak, hawthorn and crabapple trees.

 

On the morning of the event, two Keystone members went to the nursery and packed 30 small trees and their gallon containers into the back of a pickup truck and drove to the greenbelt site, where they were joined by eight additional volunteers. Everyone got busy digging holes, and planting and watering trees. All of the trees were secured in their new homes within an hour.

 

Keystone is proud to have taken part in the district’s day of service and contribute to Rotary International’s global goal of planting 1.2 million trees this year. We are also proud to have partnered with area individuals and organizations to enhance and protect our vital natural resources. We thank our new partners for their assistance, and hope we can go on to bigger and better projects together.