On nearly 500 acres of Mill Creek Metroparks' Fordyce Wildlife Sanctuary in Beaver Township, a tradition of Youngstown State students and community volunteers planting trees continues.

"We're here planting trees for our students. "We've been doing this since 2020, and yeah, so we have a tree for every freshman," said Colleen McLean, an associate professor at Youngstown State University.

Equating to more than 1,700 trees, approximately 17 different species being planted across 10 acres this year, and close to 9,000 since this annual tradition began.

"This land was previously agricultural fields, so it's important we restore natural habitat here, that we provide habitat for wildlife," said Rachel Sobnosky, natural resources manager for Mill Creek Metroparks.  "For the park, we not only care about carbon sequestration but also forest regeneration," she added.

The most important branch of this mission is mitigating climate change.

"We know trees are good for the environment; they are good to mitigate climate warming. They are good for biodiversity; they are food for birds and pollinators—everything you could imagine," said McLean.

The idea for this tradition started in 2019, when a group at YSU, including faculty and stakeholders, asked the administration to be able to do this for students.

 "They gave us permission, so we've been one hundred percent donor-funded, one hundred percent volunteer, and community-partnered since then," McLean explained.

 Students planting trees Thursday we're excited at the idea to return years later to see how their work panned out.

"If you come back in 20 years and you see your tree starting to grow, it's just awesome to think that," said Natalie Worthington.