The Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership

Number of Trees Donated by Noble Oak: 20,000

Planting Location: Pennsylvania with a heavy regional focus on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Riparian, suburban, and mine land properties. Our priority focus region is the bottom 8 counties of PA: Franklin, Adams, Lebanon, Lancaster, Centre, Cumberland, Bedford and York counties.

Types of Trees: American Beech, Alder, American Plum, American Crabapple, American Elm, American Hazelnut, American Plum, Arrowwood, Balsam Fir, Basswood, Bigtooth Aspen, Bitternut Hickory, Black Cherry, Black Chokeberry, Black Elderberry, Black Gum, Black Locust, Black Oak, Black Walnut, Black Willow, Blackhaw Viburnum, Box Elder, Buttonbush, Chestnut Oak, Easter Red Cedar, Eastern Hemlock, Eastern Redbud, Eastern White Pine, Elderberry, Flowering Dogwood, Grey Birch, Grey Dogwood, Hackberry, Hawthorn, Hazelnut, Highbush Blueberry, Highbush Cranberry, Honey Locust, Hop-Hornbeam, Inkberry Holly, Mapleleaf Viburnum, Nannyberry, Ninebark, Paw Paw, Persimmon, Pin Oak, Pussy Willow, Quaking Aspen, Raspberry, Red Chokeberry, Red Maple, Red Mulberry, Red Oak, Red-Osier Dogwood, River Birch, Sandbar Willow, Sassafras, Scarlet Oak, Serviceberry, Shagbark Hickory, Silky Dogwood, Silky Willow, Silver Maple, Speckled Alder, Spicebush, Sugar Maple, Swamp White Oak, Sweet Bay Magnolia, Sweet Gum, Sycamore, Tulip Polar

Year: 2023

Project Description/Objective: This project addresses agricultural, forestry, and stormwater goals within the PA Chesapeake Bay PA WIP3 and would help make progress toward the PA WIP3 goal of 83,000 acres of buffers within the Susquehanna and Potomac watersheds. While many projects are directed to farmland, it may not exclusively be agricultural lands depending on the priorities and demand within the counties. Priority counties mentioned below, while each unique, have a significant agricultural production presence. Depending what commodity selected, these counties account for more than half of agricultural production in PA. Crop yields and livestock units combine to increase nutrient loading. Seven of the eight counties are in southern Pennsylvania with a high nutrient and sediment delivery load to the Chesapeake Bay.

Ecological Benefits: Adding 10 million native trees to the Pennsylvania landscape will improve the Bay’s water quality by stabilizing stream and river banks, filtering water flow from agricultural, urban, and abandoned mine land environments. Unprecedented resources* and streamlined access to diverse species of high-quality trees and supplies to encourage healthy forest buffer implementation. Our goal is more than just planting trees. Our proposal insists on services and products that favor thriving forest buffers that result in significant nutrient and sediment reductions for years. We believe the quality offered within this proposal will encourage others to offer similar practices netting accelerated buffer implementation throughout PA.

Community Benefits: Adding 10 million native trees to the Pennsylvania landscape will boost the economy through trees’ ability to reduce public health costs, crime, and engaging local industry such as nurseries, garden centers and like-minded industries. The Partnership contracts annually with growers in the mid-Atlantic to purchase trees and supplies in advance of production, generally 16-24 months prior to delivery. Contracts include a specified price, quantity, species list, quantity, delivery date, and include preferences for local contractors, job creation, and socially and ecologically beneficial production practices. Forward contracting addresses a shortage and diversity of trees available for purchase in the region by increasing the predictability of the market for suppliers. Forward contracts have an extensive track record in stabilizing supply, price, and quality in the agricultural and energy markets. The partnership’s forward contract request for proposals give preference to growers in Pennsylvania in order to support economic and workforce development in the region. Communities benefit through workforce development, economic resilience, and ecological benefits.