June 29, 2023

Members of the city of St. Marys Tree Commission invited West Penn Power Forestry Specialist, Tim Parson, along with a volunteer from Out on a Limb Tree Service, to visit the fourth-grade classrooms at both Elk County Catholic and St. Marys Area School District. Tim distributed silver maple seedlings, tree guards and bamboo support sticks, all donated by the FirstEnergy Green Team. Tim also provided information about the silver maple including its science background and where to plant and care for it. Students also watched a short Arbor Day video and a slide show about the harmful spotted lanternfly. Each student received a scraper card to use if they see spotted lanternfly eggs.

Tim (far l.) with students.

A few employees used VTO hours to plant 10 fruit tree saplings at Project Self Sufficiency (PSS) in Newton, New Jersey. In 2022, JCP&L volunteers planted a number of fruit tree saplings throughout the PSS campus. The ten saplings from this event will replace the saplings that did not survive this past winter. Once grown and harvested, PSS plans to use the fruit for its community food pantry. Madelyn Mateo, supervisor, Regional Operations, and advanced forestry specialists Mike Shadle and Randy Brockett, were able to educate the students on how to best plant and maintain the saplings moving forward.

(Left photo) L.-r.: Madelyn, Mike, Randy and Rich Rebisz, consultant, Regional External Affairs. (Right photo) Madelyn, Mike and Randy review a newly planted sapling.