Dig this -- FirstEnergy workers volunteer to plant trees at Buhl Park

Apr. 29—HERMITAGE — After digging into the ground, Jessica Shaffer knew she hit paydirt after finding a worm in the upturned soil.

"That means there's good soil here," Shaffer, a scientist with FirstEnergy, said.

For the third consecutive year, Shaffer helped lead a FirstEnergy employee volunteer "Green Team" plant trees at Buhl Park on Monday. The Akron-based utility owns Penn Power, which covers all of Mercer and Lawrence counties and sections of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Crawford counties.

"This is my first time volunteering," said Jennifer Moser, among the half-dozen or so Penn Power volunteers on hand.

Since FirstEnergy began the reforest program in 2021, the utility has planted over 60,000 trees throughout its six-state service territory.

"As we regularly lose trees in the park, this program helps us reforest," Ryan Voisey, Buhl Park director of operations, said.

Buhl Park created nurseries with FirstEnergy's donation of 150 seedlings of multiple tree species were sowed last year then harvested Monday for permanent planting.

There were a couple casualties over the winter caused by animals munching on tree bark.

"The biggest issue is you get a lot of critters that come through here," Voisey said.

Trees planted this year included pitch pine and American hornbeam, which is a hardwood. Both are native trees and that's important, he said.

"If you plant indigenous trees, it supports wildlife already there," Voisey said. "Non-native trees can bring blight, and animals don't know how to feed off of them."

Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant with broad leaves that grows up to 15 feet high, is especially harmful.

"It has an extensive root system that takes out the native vegetation," he said.

One spot chosen for planting had open gaps from trees that had died. Like artisans working on canvas, organizers had decide how the trees should be planted — in uniform rows or at random — for the desired appearance.

"We're going with random here because it's more natural looking," Shaffer said.

Aside from a shovel, her only tool was a hori hori knife, a gardening knife designed for digging, with a serrated edge to cut through existing roots.

"When people first see me with the knife they joke and call me Rambo," Shaffer said with a broad smile. "Then after they see how good it is at cutting away the roots they ask to borrow it."

Buhl Park has a program allowing guests to place a tree with a plaque in honor or memory of a loved one for a $1,500 donation.

At first glance it might appear sections of the park are being neglected — but that isn't the case.

Most noticeable is a 5-acre tract near the kite field that is purposely mowed only once a year. The goal is to create a meadow for plants, insects and small animals.

Buhl Park has a total of 30 acres throughout the 300-acre park that is mowed only once a year, so wild grass and grow, preventing trees from taking root. The program has an added bonus — Buhl Park's annual carbon emissions are reduced 20,000 pounds by not mowing, Voisey said.

Also in remote park locations downed trees and branches are left untouched because as they naturally decay, nutrients back are pumped back into the soil.

"They also create homes for small animals," Voisey said.

Like Buhl Park, FirstEnergy does not add fertilizer to the soil in the areas where it plants trees, which allows for natural growth.

"What the Earth provides is good enough," Shaffer said.

Under its program FirstEnergy plants trees where the public has access such as parks.

There is one place where Shaffer won't plant — which should come as no surprise from an electric untility employee.

"We don't plant trees near power lines," she said. "That causes problems."