PITTSBURGH — Over 20 volunteers from ASEZ WAO rolled up their sleeves Sunday to help finish a project started two years ago at Riverview Park after an old ceramic pipe broke.
“As we know, our old infrastructure needs maintenance, so when that sewer line failed, PWSA had to come in and fix it with a modern line,” said Jake Milofsky, Tree Pittsburgh’s director of tree care and reforestation. “Unfortunately, that meant removing a lot of trees in the forest.”
ASEZ WAO volunteers from West View got involved in the four-phase project last spring when they planted over 100 trees.
“Getting to see the ones from last year — starting to grow and bud and everything — it was like, ‘wow we really got to make a good impact on our community,’” volunteer Canequa Grant said.
This year, ASEZ WAO hosted the tree planting as part of Earth Day celebrations - teaming up with Tree Pittsburgh to plant 50 more trees. When the project is complete there were be a total of 1,200 new trees planted.
“This is a great opportunity to help improve Riverview Park’s tree population by replacing what was lost but also by bringing in a whole realm of diversity that didn’t exist before,” Milofsky said. “This is like a variable salad bar of diversity in our urban forest that’s going to be really exciting to watch over time.”
This is the fourth and final phase of the project. Tree Pittsburgh is committed to maintaining the area for two years.
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