THE FACTORYVILLE SHADE TREE COMMISSION HISTORY

Christy Mathewson Park

 

History

The Factoryville Shade Tree Commission was revitalized in 1998. The three members of the Factoryville Shade Tree Commission were appointed by the Factoryville Borough Council in December 1998.

The Factoryville Shade Tree Commission holds monthly public meetings at the Factoryville Borough hall building. The meetings are held on the first Friday of the month at 2PM.

The Factoryville Shade Tree Commission has completed 10 grant projects:

May 1999

Trained volunteers to catalog and assess all the street trees in the Borough of Factoryville.

• America the Beautiful Grant

September 1999

Planted 18 trees, 10 shrubs and multiple tulip and daffodil bulbs at 4 sites along College Avenue.

Main entrance to Factoryville at Civic Club Way cleared of debris and weeds, and then landscaped, Borough Hall building landscaped with flowering trees.

June 1999 - November 2000

Planted over 190 new trees and over 1000 shrubs and perennials at the park and the Lackawanna Trail Elementary Center.

Stream bank stabilized and riparian buffer planted to help make our stream healthy.

July 2000 - August 2001 Phase One

Planted 32 new street trees

Pruned 8 hazardous street trees

Removed 54 dead, dying or diseased street trees that were hazardous to our public streets

August 2001 - August 2002

Phase Two completed

Planted 34 new street trees

Pruned 6 hazardous street trees

Removed 22 stumps to make way for new tree plantings

Removed 14 hazardous street trees

With the ROOTs in Factoryville Grants Phase One and Phase Two, a certified arborist inspected the street trees of the borough. A long term plan for tree management has been developed and priority trees that were hazardous have been addressed.

2 Shade Tree members attended two full days of training at State College on layering computer data in map form.

Shade Tree Commission received $5000.00 worth of software for street tree inventories and computerized mapping system for Factoryville Street Trees

Summer 2005 will begin using ARC View mapping system to computerize our street tree inventory.

 

This exciting project is underway and will bring great changes to College Avenue. The Borough has received a grant from PENN DOT to install new sidewalks and curbs along College Avenue. The Shade Tree Commission has received a grant from the Northeast Pennsylvania Urban Forestry Program to plant trees and landscape College Avenue. New trees were planted this spring with more trees to be planted in the Fall.

 

Further funding received in 2005 will bring new streetlights, new decorative utility poles, new park benches, new garbage receptacles, and more landscaping to College Avenue starting in 2005, the project should be completed by the fall of 2007.

Keystone College Students help landscape College Avenue and Civic Club Way 2004.

 

Sustaining the Trees of Factoryville, Phase One and Two

Phase One allowed us to plant trees along multiple streets in the borough. We also started assessment of all the street trees in the borough. This will allow us to inspect tree health and determine which trees need pruning or removal. Some of our older trees are declining and starting to be of a concern to the safety of our streets. Through assessment with a certified arborist we will priortize trees that need removal and plant new trees to replace the ones that must be removed. Our commission strives to plant 2 trees for every one tree that must be removed.

 

Phase Two is underway, tree orders for new trees will be placed at the end of January, trees will arrive for planting in April.

This grant will be taking place in 2006 and 2007.... more info to come soon.

Arbor Day 2005

Junior Girl Scout Troup decorated trees for holidays 2004

 

 

The centerpiece of the Fourth Grade Garden is
the Christy Mathewson Sculpture. The sculpture
was commissioned by the Factoryville Shade Tree
Commission as part of the Christy Mathewson Park
Riparian Project.

Artist John Pfeuffer at Keystone College's
sculpture studio working on the Christy
Mathewson sculpture, August 10, 2000

 

Sustaining the Trees of Factoryville 2006 & 2007

This grant received from the Northeast Pennsylvania Urban and Community Forestry Program will allow us to assess our street trees. Prune trees and remove trees if needed to protect the safety of cars and pedestrians traveling along our borough streets. We will also be ordering new trees to plant each spring and fall to increase the tree cover along our borough streets. These new trees will beautify our community. If interested in finding out more about this grant program please attend a Shade Tree Meeting or contact us.

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Thanks to everyone that came out and helped get the park put back into shape after the recent flooding.

Garden at Christy Mathewson Park damaged by recent flooding.

Factoryville Shade Tree Commission meetings are held on the first Friday of the month at 2 p.m. at the Factoryville Borough Hall Building. Public welcome.

 

We order trees twice a year in the spring and fall. If you are interested in a tree for along the streets please let us know, we have a grant to help purchase trees from the Northeast Pennsylvania Urban and Community Forestry Program.

Please contact the Shade Tree Commission if you might be interested in ordering a tree. 945-7484 extension 3

©2008 Factoryville Shade Tree Commission