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  • NEWSROOM: CELEBRATE TEXAS ARBOR DAY BY PLANTING TREES ALONG TICKEY CREEK ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    October 14, 2022

    Celebrate Texas Arbor Day by planting trees along Tickey Creek on Friday, November 4

    PRINCETON, Texas — Celebrate Texas Arbor Day and help protect your drinking water by participating in the Forests to Faucets, Tickey Creek Tree Planting Event on Friday, November 4th, 2022, from 9 a.m. to noon.

    PepsiCo, The City of Princeton, Texas A&M Forest Service, North Texas Municipal Water District, and several local stakeholders have come together to plant over 1,200 trees along Tickey Creek to help improve water quality. The planting is made possible through funding from the PepsiCo Green Team.

    Planting trees at this location is one of the most impactful and cost-effective ways to protect critical water resources. Tickey Creek is a tributary of Lavon Lake, a major water supply reservoir in the greater DFW area. By planting trees along the riparian areas of Tickey Creek, we can help improve and protect drinking water quality in the region. Riparian areas are the trees and vegetation that grow right next to the stream. These trees help to slow stormwater runoff and form a physical barrier, which helps filter pollutants and significantly reduces erosion.

    “Establishing a forested riparian buffer on a tributary like Tickey Creek is critical because it will help stabilize the eroding stream banks and filter and trap unwanted pollutants from urban stormwater runoff,” said Mac Martin, Texas A&M Forest Service Urban Forestry Partnership Coordinator. “This investment in reforestation not only serves the ecosystem but will also protect crucial drinking water supply to the Lavon Lake, which serves clean water to over 2 million North Texas residents.”

    November is the perfect time to plant trees in Texas, which is why the State Arbor Day is celebrated the first Friday of the month each year. Arbor Day is an annual observance across the country that celebrates the role of trees in our lives and promotes tree planting and care.

    Six hundred seedlings and over six hundred young trees will be planted at the Tickey Creek Planting Event and volunteers are encouraged to come out and assist the city effort to make a positive environmental impact in their community.

    This project is part of the Texas A&M Forest Service’s Green Futures corporate sustainability partnership program. The program connects corporate funding to local nonprofit organizations to implement on the ground urban forestry projects.

    This Green Futures project is a partnership between PepsiCo, the City of Princeton, Texas A&M Forest Service, North Texas Municipal Water District, Blackland Prairie Master Naturalists, Collin County Master Gardeners, McKinney Parks Foundation, Heard Nature Museum, Texas Conservation Alliance, and the Apache Corporation.

    Volunteers are encouraged to bring a shovel, work gloves, refillable water bottle and closed-toe shoes. For more information and to register as a volunteer, visit https://princetontx.gov/444/Tickey-Creek-Tree-Planting



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    Contacts:

    Mac Martin, Urban and Community Forestry Program Partnership Coordinator, Texas A&M Forest Service, mac.martin@tfs.tamu.edu, (979) 402-1339


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