Volunteers plant future forest at Flight 93 National Memorial
The sun was elusive, but energy and muscle were in abundance Friday as hundreds of volunteers climbed hills above the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County.
About 400 people were expected to plant 13,600 seedlings and native shrubs over 20 acres Friday, which was Arbor Day, and Saturday as part of the eighth annual Plant a Tree at Flight 93 event.
The reforestation area also will be seeded with a native pollinator seed mix to increase the diversity of native plants and improve the wildlife habitat on the former surface coal mine land.
United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a nearby field on 9/11 as some of the 40 passengers and crew struggled with terrorists believed to have been planning to use the aircraft in an attack on the nation’s capital. Everyone aboard died.
Looking toward the future
Among the many volunteers heading up hill from the Tower of Voices parking lot were several dozen Somerset Trust Bank employees.
Many project veterans grabbed tools and buckets filled with seedlings and split into teams.
“I’ve done this individually, as part of the (Somerset Trust) group and with my family. I’ve come every year, and I’ve been all over the place. It’s neat to see the growth,” said Wendy Griffith of Johnstown.
She recalls being at work on 9/11, and company employees heading out to take food and drinks to bring to those already helping at the scene.
“It feels like extended family,” Griffith said of the planting effort.
Dave O’Barto, a consulting forester from Latrobe, said he has volunteered “seven or eight times.”
He’s helped plant with members of a forestry fraternity from his alma mater, Penn State, in the past.
“And I’m local,” he said.
Planting partners Terry Hubbard and Kristi Japalucci, both Somerset Trust Bank employees from Johnstown, were back for their second year planting trees.
They joked with Sara Fitzsimmons, The American Chestnut Foundation director of restoration, as she teased them about which end of the seedlings went into the ground.
“We try to put them 8 feet apart,” Hubbard said, as the two moved through the muddy field.
“The fact of knowing what happened here in 2001 and being able to be part of restoring this area — there is just a sense of pride,” he said.
“I think it’s just a great event. It’s important to be a part of it. In 10 years we can say, ‘We planted that row.’ It’s kind of like a legacy,” Japalucci added.
A living memorial
The annual reforestation event typically reaches volunteer capacity soon after it’s announced, said Donna Gibson, board president of Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial.
The Friends’ goal is to plant 150,000 seedlings over 10 years, helping to restore natural habitats, increase floral resources and create nesting sites.
This year’s tree species include American chestnut; white, pitch and red pine; red, white and chestnut oak; red spruce; and black cherry.
The trees also will cultivate a living memorial at the site, planners say.
The project is expected to conclude within the next two or three years.
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