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

Nature Conservancy Seeks Volunteers for Earth Day Tree Planting at Cranesville Swamp

GARRETT COUNTY, MD — April 2, 2007 — The Nature Conservancy is seeking volunteers to plant red spruce seedlings at Cranesville Swamp on Saturday, April 14, in celebration of Earth Day.

Staff and volunteers of the Maryland/DC chapter of The Nature Conservancy will plant about 3,300 red spruce seedlings as part of a long-term restoration effort aimed at accelerating native forest cover, improving habitat quality for rare plants and animals by restoring natural vegetation, and improving hydrology. Capping off a six-year effort, the Conservancy and volunteers will have planted a total of 18,800 red spruce and 2,000 white pines at Cranesville Swamp since 2002. 

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 a grant from American Forests’ Global ReLeaf program has enabled the Conservancy to replant these trees throughout our Cranesville Swamp Preserve. 

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 conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.