Sharpsburg adds greenery with help from volunteers at tree planting

Sharpsburg looks a little greener thanks to multiple volunteers planting trees in the borough earlier this month.

More than 30 people came out to plant 25 trees on Nov. 2.

The event was part of a partnership with Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the borough and Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization.

People gathered at Roots of Faith along Main Street, where they received supplies, food and instructions from conservancy leaders on the best ways to plant.

Participants included borough residents, members of Volunteers of America and the Youth Empowerment Project, Connect Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh ecology students, local business owners and people from surrounding communities.

Sharpsburg Councilman Dave Breingan was one of the organizers.

“I’d been planning this tree planting for almost a year, after we received a request for traffic calming from a resident along Clay Street,” Breingan said. “So it was very exciting to see the literal fruits of that labor come together with getting 25 trees into the ground across Sharpsburg.

“Planting trees with neighbors is a great way to spend a Saturday.”

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy provided the trees for free — and some environmental education.

“Sharpsburg has worked with WPC a number of times over the years to coordinate on tree plantings,” Breingan said. “For this planting, we took advantage of their TreeVitalize program.”

Trees were planted near residences along Sixth, Eighth, Clay and Penn streets as well as by organizations including the Second Harvest Thrift Store, Atithi Studios and the Watson Institute.

Tree varieties included flowering cherry, crab apple, European hornbeam, redbud, tree lilac, sweetgum, London planetree and an oak hybrid.

The trees are expected to provide much more than shade.

“Street trees provide so many benefits to a community (such as) improving air quality, calming traffic, reducing ‘heat island effect,’ managing stormwater, reducing utility costs and making people happy,” Breingan said. “Sharpsburg has an extremely low tree canopy and is an environmental justice community.

“So partnering with WPC and the TreeVitalize program is a great way to achieve multiple goals for Sharpsburg, at no cost to the borough.”

Jodi Klebick, executive director of the Sharpsburg Neighborhood Organization, said she was impressed with the volunteers and their commitment to helping the borough.

More planting plans are in the works.

“We’re excited to plant even more trees in the spring,” Klebick said. “If any Sharpsburg residents would like a free street tree out in front of their property, we’ll be submitting another application on Dec. 1 for more free street trees.”

Tree request forms are available online at the borough’s website at sharpsburgborough.com.