None The Nature Conservancy in Maryland/District of Columbia Press Releases Search All Press Releases Dave Dadurka (301) 897-8570< E-mail: ddadurka@tnc.org

Nature Conservancy Seeks Volunteers For Earth Day Tree Planting At Cranesville Swamp

GARRETT COUNTY, MD. – The Nature Conservancy is seeking volunteers to plant red spruce seedlings at Cranesville Swamp on Saturday, April 22, in celebration of Earth Day.

Staff and volunteers of the Maryland/DC chapter of The Nature Conservancy, a leading international conservation group, will plant about 3,300 red spruce seedlings and 400 native white pines as part of a five-year effort aimed at accelerating restoration of forest cover, improving habitat quality for rare plants and animals by restoring natural vegetation, and improving hydrology. Since 2002, the Conservancy and volunteers have planted 10,000 red spruce and 1,150 white pines at Cranesville Swamp. 

Red spruce once covered thousands of acres in western Maryland before logging and subsequent fires early in the 1900s drastically reduced its range. Funding through grants from American Forests Global ReLeaf and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will enable us to plant more than 18,000 trees over five years. 

Cranesville Swamp, a montane peatland complex, covers more than 7,600 acres in Preston County, West Virginia, and Garrett County, Maryland. The swamp provides excellent habitat for species such as the Southern water shrew, American larch tree and the Bog Copper butterfly.

To volunteer and for directions to the planting, contact Deborah Landau, conservation ecologist for The Nature Conservancy in Maryland/DC, at (301) 897-8570 or dlandau@tnc.org.

###

The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its nearly one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 14 million acres in the United States—including more than 64,000 acres in Maryland—and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific.  Visit us on the Web at nature.org/maryland.