A tree sapling giveaway created a bottleneck in the hallway to the cafeteria at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital one recent lunch hour.
Nurses, physicians, residents, technicians, lactation consultants and security personnel signed up for a signature event of the 8-month-old nonprofit Plant Five for Life. By taking a tree and planting it, these health care professionals would help perpetuate the message of the health benefits of trees where they live.
The ultimate mission of Plant Five for Life, which Christine Graziano established in March, is to plant five trees for every child born in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area each year, roughly 13,000 births.
The impact could increase the number of trees in the county by 65,000 annually and match the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan’s goal of 780,000 trees planted by 2030.
The subsequent goal is to plant trees near where the families of newborns live and keep them connected to the trees as the children grow up, she said.
Ms. Graziano has a background in planning, community design and environmental advocacy. She has been a projects director for Pittsburgh Green Innovators and a city planner in Southampton, N.Y., and sits on the board of the Allegheny Land Trust.
The Arbor Day Foundation paid for most of the 350 saplings given away at Magee, 70 each of American hornbeam, persimmon, sweet bay magnolia, white dogwood and white oak.
Before noon, the magnolias were going fast, recommended for smaller spaces.
Jim Vogel cradled a dogwood sapling as he spoke to Rich Vrboncic, an arborist for Bartlett Tree Experts. Before leaving, Mr. Vogel said, “I have the exact place in mind for it, 20 feet in front of my house” in Carmichaels, Green County.
People who took a tree were asked to share their name and address so Ms. Graziano can plot the sites on a map.
“Maybe we can make it interactive at some point,” she said, adding, “We’re asking people to send us a photo of them planting their tree.”
Ms. Graziano started Plant Five for Life as a result of her concern about air quality and other impacts of the environment on health when her own child turned 5.
“Early childhood development is vulnerable in the first five years of life,” she said.
In April and May, the organization gave 5,000 trees to 1,000 new parents through Magee’s birthing unit.
As the organization grows, it will hold Family Day celebrations during plantings to strengthen connections between people and trees and build bonds among families of young children.
The organization’s fiscal sponsor is New Sun Rising, a nonprofit that helps launch pop-up businesses and other nonprofits.
Ms. Graziano said she wants her organization to help and enhance the work of other tree-focused organizations.
Plant Five for Life already has planted trees at South Side Park that came from Tree Pittsburgh Heritage Nursery.
At the recent Magee event, arborists from Bartlett Tree Experts were on hand to help match trees with the size of people’s yards and the height restrictions they cited.
“How much space do you have?” Mr. Vrboncic asked a woman in scrubs.
“Not much,” she said.
He recommended the sweet bay magnolia, saying, “it’s a beautiful tree and native, too.”
People wanted to know how long they could wait to plant, how much water their sapling needed and how much their tree would spread.
“We do this as part of our educational outreach,” said Stephen Miller, an arborist and manager of Bartlett’s Irwin location. “We show kids slideshows in schools about how big these little seedlings get to be.”
Kids aren’t the only ones who might marvel at the power in a little twig attached to a baggie by tiny roots. Adults might find that power humbling, and comfortingly so.
Appropriately planted for their conditions, trees should be everywhere. Aesthetics aside, they are environmental workhorses, sequestering carbon, releasing oxygen, absorbing stormwater, preventing soil erosion, cooling both temperatures and tempers, providing food and habitat for numerous species, and enriching a beneficial underground ecosystem.
Ms. Graziano said her organization has built a network of planting locations to mesh with community tree-planting goals and larger initiatives to restore and improve watersheds.
“Our work aims to honor life, shift cultural focus and inspire a sense of obligation to plant in all generations,” she said.
For more information, visit www.plantfiveforlife.org.
Diana Nelson Jones: djones@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1626. Twitter @dnelsonjones.
First Published: November 19, 2018, 12:30 p.m.
