The City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Works Parks Division, The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and Penn State Cooperative Extension of Allegheny County collaborated on a project to plant several of the recently introduced hybrid elm trees in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh. The project was funded through the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources - Forestry Division. The project also provided adjudicated urban youth from the C.I.S.P program with opportunities to learn best practices of tree planting and pruning while working in the City of Pittsburgh Park System.

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Project Activities

April 25th through the 29th, 2005

The DPW Schenley Park crew prepared 1400 lineal feet along Overlook Drive for six new cultivars of Elm trees. Previously, the city Forestry division had removed 16 Norway maple trees from this site. The park crew dug out the old stumps, hauled away all debris, dug holes for the new trees, delivered topsoil and mulch to the site.

May 2, 2005

Horticulturists and Arborists from Penn State Cooperative Extension and the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy provided instruction to 12 CISP youth on how to properly install a 3” caliper balled and burlapped landscape tree. The youth received instruction on the best management practices, including planting depth, watering and equipment safety.

May 4, 2005

Eight of the original CISP youth returned, and received training on proper guying, mulching and pruning of newly installed landscape trees.

May 5, 2005

Seven youth completed the installation of the thirty elm trees.

November 6, 2006

Seventeen additional elms representing 4 different cultivars were planted in Schenley Park at a site 300 yards from the original planting.