BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two local groups have made it their mission to "re-tree" the Buffalo State campus and make it more ecologically friendly.
They brought their mission to Grant Street Saturday where they planted 45 trees of differing varieties. Between 60 and 70 volunteers from Friends of the Buffalo State Arboretum and the Buffalo Sunrise Rotarians helped plan the event.
Not only are the trees good for the climate, but they also help beautify the streetscape.
"The trees we planted are very specifically chosen by our arborist," Susan McCartney of Buffalo State said. "The trees are native trees, they are trees that do great things for wildlife, for ecology, for the soil, for water runoff."
"So we have two types of oak trees. We have river birch trees, we have redbud trees. We had the best possible trees planted today."
This was the third "big dig" held by the group. Their other trees planted in years past can be seen all around the campus.
This year Erie County is celebrating its 200th birthday and that's meant plenty of different events and good deeds to mark the occasion. Re-Tree Western New York on Friday 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.