Trees provide a lot of benefits to the surrounding environment, such as cleaning the air, preventing erosion, and improving property value. Here at Peoples, protecting our environment is a vital part of our mission. So with that in mind, we’ve come up with a few exciting ways to save the trees!
One of our friends in this cause is Tree Pittsburgh. Last fall, we helped them to launch an Ash Recovery Tree Giveaway. Tree Pittsburgh gave away 1,000 trees to Allegheny County residents. These trees helped to replace some of the trees that have been decimated by the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), a predatory beetle that has killed about 15 percent of the county’s tree population.
The EAB Recovery Tree Giveaway is just one of the many ways we’re helping to save trees. We also worked with TreeVitalize Pittsburgh and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy last spring to install tree boxes along the sidewalk on Larimer Avenue and Meadow Street after completing a pipeline renewal project. Our employees then joined other TreeVitalize volunteers to plant the trees, which will help to catch rainwater and prevent flooding in order to keep our roads safer and cleaner.
We are also currently working with the Nine Mile Run Watershed Association to develop their Watershed Forest Master Plan. This plan includes a “Tree Inventory” that will help maintain a diverse and healthy tree population. Nine Mile Run, named after the small stream running through Pittsburgh’s East End, is dedicated to uniting Pittsburgh’s urban setting with the natural world. The ultimate goal of the project, on track to be completed in early 2018, is to keep the watershed tree population thriving. These trees then provide a canopy cover that will reduce storm water levels in and around the watershed.
As we work hard to help save the trees, one of our most powerful partners…is you! We are encouraging all of our customers to utilize the easy and eco-friendly e-Billing option available through your Peoples e-Account. By opting out of paper bills, our customers can help us save trees. And if all of our customers switched to e-Billing, we would save over 6,700 trees per year!
By working with our incredible partners and customers, we’ve been able to truly make a positive impact on the environment. And moving forward, we hope to continue to make a difference…one tree at a time!