Trees Conference Summary

Trees bring a wide range of value: to communities, the environment, and the economy.

Learn about these amazing things — and about various programs that help communiites and landowners manage trees — at a conference on “Trees” from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at the beautiful Laurelville Conference Center, 941 Laurelville Lane, Mount Pleasant, 15666.

The conference was planned by the Laurel Highlands Conservation Coalition, a broad group of organizations and individuals who advocate for conservation.

Trees create beauty, purify air, make oxygen, act as sound barriers, and save energy with cooling shade in summer and wind-breaks in winter.  These and other ecosystem benefits of trees will be the topic of the keynote address from Dr. Bill Elmendorf of Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Ecosystem Science and Management.

Panels of speakers will address three topics:

  • Programs that help to plant or protect trees, including state assistance with forest management plans for private land owners, the state’s urban forestry program for communities, and the Clean and Green Program that offers tax incentives.
  • Various philosophies for harvesting trees, including sustainable forestry, harvesting for cash value, managing land for wildlife habitat and simply allowing natural succession of plants without human intervention.
  • Various economic and environmental values of trees, including a dollar-and-cents estimate of these values, and how trees impact a community’s image and encourage economic development.

Dr. Elmendorf’s teaching interests include arboriculture, land use planning and regulatory policy, civic environmentalism and human dimensions of natural resources and the environment. As a specialist for Penn State Extension Service, he provides technical assistance to municipalities, state agencies, and non-profit and volunteer organizations on how they can better plan for and manage natural resources associated with communities.

A charge of $20 for the conference will cover the cost of a light breakfast, lunch, coffee and room rental.

Click here for on-line registration (if the form is not visible below, please make sure that your internet brower is up to date, try Internet Explorer, or click here for a mail-in registration form.

Questions: [email protected].