Scouts honor promise at Arbor Day tree-planting
Published 05.05.2022
For Earth Day 2022, Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania is planting 2,022 trees. It is part of Girl Scouts USA’s mission to plant, protect or honor 5 million trees by 2026.
In addition to learning about the importance of the trees they were planting, children visited the Pennsylvania WoodMobile, took part in hands-on education stations staffed by students and faculty, received gardening gloves from Penn College and swag from the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership, and earned the GSUSA Tree Promise and Chesapeake Bay Foundation Clean Water Grows on Trees patches.
The event was spearheaded by Carl J. Bower Jr., assistant professor of horticulture. Also lending a hand were Andrew Bartholomay, assistant professor of forestry; Justin W. Beishline, assistant dean of diesel technology and natural resources; the men’s and women’s tennis teams (with head coach Jessica L. Bower); and landscape/plant production technology students Erin S. Carey, of Lewisburg; Faith E. Mitchell, of Sunbury; Grant Walters, of Dover; and Sophia G. Wiest, of Butler. Walters is also pursuing a degree in forest technology. Wiest is pursuing an additional degree in entrepreneurial innovation.
Penn College holds the Tree Campus USA designation from the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to effective campus forest management and for engaging students in conservation goals.
The group planted redbud, tulip poplar, black oak, scarlet oak, pin oak, sugar maple, silver maple, blackgum, basswood and swamp white oak trees, as well as red chokeberry, inkberry and silky dogwood shrubs.
– Photos by Jennifer A. Cline, writer/magazine editor
Carl J. Bower Jr., assistant professor of horticulture, distributes seedlings.
Andrew Bartholomay, assistant professor of forestry, prepares his group to plant their trees in and near the ESC’s forestland.
Digging a hole for a redbud seedling
Scouts beautify the edge of a wooded area.
Gloved fingers tamp down dirt to give a seedling a firm start.
Fulfilling the Girl Scout pledge to serve, helpful hands plant a tulip poplar.
With an assist from Bartholomay, girls help to reforest a harvested area.
A “tree tube” and mesh cap help to protect the seedlings from hungry animals and birds – as well as feet.
With the help of parent Melissa A. Webb, instructor of technology and information literacy and course coordinator, girls add interest – and the best-ever of air cleaners – to a green area near the pond.
Justin W. Beishline, assistant dean of diesel technology and natural resources, shares environmental facts with Scouts, while Scouts share their adventures in the woods with him.
Grant Walters, a student in forest technology and landscape/horticulture technology: landscape emphasis, quizzes girls on fun tree facts.
Joined by Amanda McTarnaghan (far left) of Keystone Wood Products Association, girls explore a display in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s WoodMobile.
Darrel Showers, of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, engages girls in a conversation about invasive bugs that damage Pennsylvania trees (including the spotted lanternfly, emerald ash borer, spongy moth and hemlock woolly adelgid).