100 trees added to Kingston landscape

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Here’s some good news for anyone who likes to breathe fresh air and drink clean water.

Or swim or boat or go fishing.

Or walk along a street that’s shaded rather than scorching hot.

Thanks to Countywide Action Plan funding from the PA Department of Environmental Protection, the Luzerne Conservation District has spent the past few days planting 100 trees in Kingston.

Sycamores, pin oak, swamp white oak, red maple, honey locusts and elms are among the hardy varieties planted, watershed specialist John Levitsky from the Conservation District said as workers from Green Valley Landscaping shoveled earth around the bare roots of an elm, one of the last saplings to go into the ground along Third Avenue on Wednesday morning.

The project is part of an effort to clean the Chesapeake Bay, by “keeping nutrients (like nitrogen and phosphorus) in the soil and not in the rivers and streams,” Levitsky said, explaining everything from fertilizer some people put on their lawns to airborne pollutants (from vehicles, industrial facilities and other sources) contributes to stormwater runoff that damages the waterways.

“Sometimes people get angry and say, ‘Why sould I protect the Bay?’” Levitsky said. “But this effort helps protect all the rivers and tributaries in Pennsylvania, benefting the water quality and beautifying the area … The trees increase property values, too.”

The recent project included planting trees not only along the winding Third Avenue but at Korn Street Park, Levi Park, the Schuyler Avenue pocket park and the recently renamed Haggerty Family Park, which is on Church Street near Wyoming Avenue.

“This has been a great cooperative effort between Penn State and the Luzerne Conservation District,” Levitsky said, acknowledging assistance from urban forester Vinnie Cotrone from the Penn State Cooperative Extension.