Rooted in Growth

Employees from JCP&L's Green Team participated in a rewarding tree event last year at Ridge and Valley Conservancy's Dark Moon Preserve in New Jersey's Sussex County, where they volunteered to help plant a forest canopy to restore vibrancy to a small trout stream.

February 1, 2024

Trees for Communities

FirstEnergy’s tree-planting efforts benefited local communities that needed our help the most in 2023, including these deserving causes:

  • Aldrich Elementary School in New Jersey, where we planted trees to restore an area damaged by severe storms and strong winds.
  • Project Self Sufficiency, an initiative to replant fruit trees at a food bank in an underserved area of New Jersey for the second consecutive year.
  • Falling Run Greenspace, a partnership event with West Virginia University, to refresh an underserved urban area in downtown Morgantown, W.Va., desperately needing greenery.
  • Youngstown State Legacy Forest, a partnership with Youngtown State University to plant a tree for every incoming freshman entering the school in 2023.
  • Jeanette Greenspaces, where we returned for the second consecutive year to help this non-profit organization plant a garden and pass out trees to the community.
  • Grover Cleveland Elementary School in Erie, Pa., provided us with a chance to plant trees in collaboration with the school’s students and local Lake Erie Arboretum’s ReLeaf initiative.
  • Cranberry Community Chest and Seneca Valley Schools in Pa., allowed us to collaborate with students and educators to have a tree planting parade, traveling from site to site to beautify the local area.

​Just like the trees employees planted in 2023, our corporate tree planting goal keeps growing and growing – thanks to the support of employees across FirstEnergy.

For the third year in a row, employees surpassed the company’s ambitious tree planting goal last year and are looking to expand in 2024 – reinforcing and living out our commitment to FirstEnergy’s value of Stewardship. With the program’s track record of engagement and participation, Jessica Shaffer, Advanced Scientist, Environmental, and FirstEnergy’s Tree Program Lead, is confident employees will meet this year’s new goal: planting 25,000 trees in our local communities in 2024.

“Last year’s goal was to plant 20,000 trees and we exceeded that by planting a grand total of 25,550,” said Jessica. “Thanks to our leadership support and devoted employee volunteers, the program has continued to grow year after year. FirstEnergy has made significant investments in our local communities, with more than 67,000 trees planted to date since 2020.”

In 2023, employee volunteers from groups across FirstEnergy participated in 95 volunteer time off (VTO) tree planting events planned by FirstEnergy Environmental and the Green Teams. Participants invested 2,197 VTO hours in planting events to beautify underserved communities, aid local food banks and expand forested lands in our service territories at parks, forests and preserves.

“Approximately 51 of our events last year were designed to help underserved local areas, which is something employees should be especially proud of,” added Jessica. “Our goal is to have 50% of our tree events serve organizations and entities in these communities each year, so we were right on target in 2023.”

Planting efforts at Ridge and Valley Conservancy’s Dark Moon Preserve in New Jersey’s Sussex County last year also assisted in replenishing waterways and supporting wildlife populations. JCP&L and FirstEnergy donated 400 mixed native hardwood trees to Dark Moon. JCP&L employees then participated in a Green Teams event to plant the trees along an abandoned farm field in the preserve that will provide a forest canopy for a small trout stream.

“If we continue this trajectory with our tree-planting goals, we’ll be well on our way to making a true impact across our service territories and leaving a legacy in our communities that exceeds anything we imagined,” said Dave Frederick, Director, Environmental. “We’ve covered so much ground already and employee participation has made it all possible.”