As a part of the Franklin County Trees for Tomorrow Program, the Alliance has conducted several “Buffer in a Box” workshops this fall. These workshops are just one part of the larger initiative, to reforest Franklin County, Pennsylvania and clean up the Concocheague Creek called Franklin County: Trees for Tomorrow. We’ve been pleased to find out that these small programs have a much greater impact than we expected: fostering environmental stewards of the next generation. These unassuming workshops provide homeowners with a tutorial on planting and caring for trees and shrubs that are part of a stream buffer. Workshop presenters also provide context for why creating and maintaining buffers around streams is so valuable locally and regionally. Those who attend a workshop receive a box filled with native plants to take home to plant. The over 1,000 seedlings we gave out were a huge attraction for homeowners.

We anticipate that the trees and shrubs we were able to give out will have a high success rate. With homeowners that know how to care for the newly planted seedlings, the plants have a better chance at a long lived, resilient life. These resilient buffers will provide lasting impacts—slowing runoff, stabilizing sediment, creating habitat, reducing pollution—that will aid the restoration of Concocheague Creek and ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.

These workshops serve another purpose, creating environmental stewards of the next generation. It came to our attention that these workshops provided not only useful information and seedlings to plant. They provided opportunities for families to inspire their children.

One woman, who home schools her daughter, even wrote an entire blog on the “Buffer in a Box” experience. She detailed her daughter’s enthusiasm for learning and for planting the seedlings. The process of planting and caring for trees and other native plants will surely be an experience for this family to remember. It is experiences like those that many in the environmental field share in stories of why they are driven to protect nature’s gifts. This story encourages us. READY youth workers installing rain garden.To help in the molding of young environmental stewards is something that the Alliance is passionate about and works towards. The Alliance works to create stewards bay-wide, from our Howard County READY Program to Executive Director, Al Todd’s work with the Chesapeake Bay Program’s partners to develop management strategies for the Stewardship Goal of the Chesapeake Watershed Agreement. But it is important to recognize that fostering experiences in and for nature is equally valuable in the process of creating individuals passionate about the environment.

It is a joy to know that our programs prove to be multitaskers with cascading positive effects like the “Buffer in a Box” workshop has. It put trees in the ground, helped to secure the future of Pennsylvania streams, and furthered the path of environmental stewards.

One woman, who home schools her daughter, even wrote an entire blog on the “Buffer in a Box” experience. She detailed her daughter’s enthusiasm for learning and for planting the seedlings. The process of planting and caring for trees and other native plants will surely be an experience for this family to remember. It is experiences like those that many in the environmental field share in stories of why they are driven to protect nature’s gifts. This story encourages us.