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<p>PLYMOUTH TWP. &#8212; Nearly 200 volunteers got down and dirty Friday, planting roughly 4,000 trees in celebration of Earth Day.</p><p>Volunteers made their way up the rocky terrain in the Pinchot State Forest on Friday morning, holding buckets full of saplings that would soon find new homes in the wet, milled ground off of Avondale Road.</p><p>Organized by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council with the help of state Department of Conservation and Nautral Resources and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, about 8,000 trees ranging from white pine and quaking Aspen to chestnut and northern red oaks will be planted at the site Friday and Saturday.</p><p>The project is one of two the PEC is holding for Earth Day, with the Pinchot site being chosen due to its history of strip-mining.</p><p>&#8220;We have funding to reclaim mine-ravished lands,&#8221; said PEC Program Coordinator Palmira Miller, adding the site is part of a larger statewide mine-reclamation project.</p><p>Although grass was once planted on the 10-acre strip of land, the trees never came back, Miller said as she pointed to a piece of land adjacent to the plot which resembled a grassy field. So she hired a contractor to come and rip the site, adding natural rifts and divots with the state Bureau of Forestry providing the seedlings for planting.</p><p>The site was originally taken over by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, and five years ago the state Bureau of Forestrytook it over. Scott Eggerud, a forester with the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement agency, was on-site explaining what trees the volunteers would be planting and how they could help the area.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re trying to restore or establish early succession of forest,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So basically, we&#8217;re just trying to put the forest back in mine sites.&#8221;</p><p>Along with buckets full of seedlings, volunteers were broken up into teams and each given a dibble &#8212; or planting bar &#8212; to assist with the planting process. Somewhat similar to a shovel, the dibble is placed into the ground and pushed back-and-forth before being removed and the sapling placed into the hole.</p><p>Miller said environmental organizations are finding that areas such as Pinchot have a better chance of growing a successful habitat the more &#8220;natural&#8221; the space becomes.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re finding out this is a better way to plant trees, not to reclaim land like that,&#8221; she said as she pointed over to the adjacent plot of grassy field. &#8220;Keep it rough, keep it natural, and that&#8217;s where you get the trees to grow.&#8221;</p><p>She said the best way to plant seedlings is in an area where a rift occurs, and the area can naturally gather and hold water to the tree to use as needed &#8212; especially if there is a drought.</p><p>Although the event was supposed to last throughout the afternoon, an overwhelming amount of volunteers made for quick planting, knocking the event&#8217;s time almost in half. PEC Trails and Recreation Director Frank Maguire said the group planned for 80 to 120 volunteers, although nearly double that amount showed up to help.</p><p>By lunchtime, many of the volunteers finished planting their buckets and were walking down the mountain. However, that didn&#8217;t stop Hanover Area students Hailey Griffin and Giovanna Caines from venturing to other areas in an attempt to help nature grow.</p><p>&#8220;I really liked it,&#8221; Griffin said of the experience. &#8220;I love helping the environment and it just all really feels good.&#8221;</p><p>Caines admitted this was her first time planting trees at such an event, but said she felt a desire to come out and help her community.</p><p>&#8220;I just like helping around the environment,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I think it sounded pretty interesting and wanted to see how it goes.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hailey Griffin, 14, and Giovanna Caines, 13, both Hanover Area students, remove seeds from a plant to replant in the Pinchot State Forest in Plymouth Township on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_TTL042217Trees1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hailey Griffin, 14, and Giovanna Caines, 13, both Hanover Area students, remove seeds from a plant to replant in the Pinchot State Forest in Plymouth Township on Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Marcella Kester</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLnews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Volunteers plant trees in Pinchot State Forest to celebrate Earth Day