The Brandywine Conservancy is taking the lead on a collaborative project to plant 1,400 trees in East Fallowfield; volunteers are being sought.

Conservationists hope area residents will dig this important environmental activity: planting 1,400 trees in East Fallowfield Township on Saturday, Oct. 26.

The Brandywine Conservancy, Guardians of the Brandywine, and West Chester University are looking for assistance starting at 9 a.m. The property, permanently preserved through conservation easement, is located at 2320 Strasburg Road in East Fallowfield.   

 Conservancy officials say that planting trees enhances water quality, restores natural flows in the Brandywine Creek, and improves plant and animal habitat. Trees provide food and shelter for life in and around streams, promote absorption of rain into the ground, replenish groundwater supplies, and reduce storm water runoff and downstream flooding. Leaves, branches and roots reduce erosion and prevent excess sediment and nutrients from entering streams during storm water runoff. Trees also help to slow global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the air, storing the carbon, and then releasing oxygen into the atmosphere.

The Brandywine and its tributaries are a major source of drinking water for communities in Pennsylvania, including Downingtown, Coatesville, and West Chester, and provide surface water for commercial, agricultural, and industrial uses. It also is the source of drinking water to over 140,000 people in the Greater Wilmington area in Delaware, conservancy officials said.

Trees for the initiative are provided by TreeVitalize, a public-private partnership created by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, as a broad-based public-private partnership to increase public awareness of the importance of community trees, and to reverse the loss of tree cover in the state’s metropolitan areas. The program began in southeastern Pennsylvania in partnership with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

To volunteer or get directions, contact Wes Horner at 610-388-8124 or 610-350-7605. Volunteers are advised to wear heavy clothing, heavy shoes, and gloves and to bring a shovel if possible.