FOCUS: Group plans to plant 3.3 million trees on Earth Day

By Skyler Baldwin  |  PowerPlantSC is prepping for what may be a record-setting loblolly pine tree planting event across South Carolina. The group estimates more than 3.3 million trees will be planted throughout the Palmetto State on Earth Day, April 22.

Several state groups have signed on to the event, conceived and directed by global expedition leader and S.C. Floodwater Commission Chairman Tom Mullikin of Camden. PowerPlantSC will involve the Boy Scouts, 4-H Club members, Future Farmers of America, schools and other key partners in the state’s 46 counties.

State leaders including Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette will participate in the statewide effort as well. “We are not only planting and growing trees, but this is about growing our economy and growing our state,” Evette said in a press release. “Through PowerPlantSC, we are now educating our children as to how important our environment is.”

All six of the Palmetto State’s Boy Scout councils will be planting trees, as will Gov. Henry McMaster, who will host a tree-planting event at the Governor’s Mansion the morning of Earth Day.

The tree-planting effort is to serve as a future natural defense against the increasing threat of disastrous floodwater events, according to a press release.

“Trees, vegetation and soils are components of pervious surface cover that help absorb stormwater and reduce the harmful effects of flooding, erosion and runoff,” said Douglas E. Wood, director of communications with the S.C. Forestry Commission. “Expanding tree cover through this project — and especially through successive, ongoing satellite-spin-off events and initiatives — will allow for offsetting of stormwater naturally and aid in infiltration.”

The tree seeds come in packs of 60 and are donated by the Forestry Commission.

Skyler Baldwin is a staff writer with the Charleston City Paper, where this story first appeared.

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