BUFFALO, N.Y. — This year Erie County is celebrating its 200th birthday and that's meant plenty of different events and good deeds to mark the occasion.
Today Re-Tree Western New York started planting 200 trees around the county, with a stop at Chestnut Ridge Park.
This year also marks 15 years since the October Storm, which destroyed around 57,000 trees in the county and led to the group's formation. It took until 2019 for the organization to replace all those trees.
"We'll see you all over in the next few months because we'll be planting these 200 trees in various public areas throughout the county. From municipal buildings, to parks, to we're going to put in front of the historical society," Paul Maurer, chairman of Re-Tree WNY said.
Re-Tree Western New York says municipalities in the county can contact them if they have a good spot to put one of these 200 new trees over the coming months.
Maurer says the goal has now shifted to replacing trees lost due to other issues, like the emerald ash borer, wind and ice storms, and droughts. However, he says it's still a thrill to see the progress of the original trees planted 15 years ago.
"It's great to be able to go back and take a look at what we've done behind me, some of these trees are 12 years old now, almost 15 years old, if you go on some streets," Maurer said. "You look and you go, 'oh that looks fantastic,' and that was because of the volunteers that planted on those streets. So it's also very gratifying."
On top of planting trees in parks, Re-Tree wants every house in the City of Buffalo to have a tree in front of it.