Damaged by heavy machinery during the construction of a rifle range, a large field at the Heritage Boy Scout Camp in Farmington presented a challenge for FirstEnergy's Pennsylvania Green Team. The goal was to restore the area into a forest where only non-native Japanese grass had previously thrived.
Blake Partlow, a resident ranger at the camp in Fayette County, explained the difficulty: “We’re trying to make this a forest again,” he said. “Between the invasive grass and the deer, we’ve seen zero growth here in the past five years.”
Recently, twelve Green Team volunteers joined park rangers to plant 275 native trees on a stormy morning. These included black oak, red bud, persimmon, northern bayberry, spice bush, and arrowwood saplings donated by FirstEnergy.
Jessica Shaffer, who leads the Green Team as a scientist with FirstEnergy, discussed how planting spice bush would help recreate critical wildlife habitat. She noted that these plants would serve as hosts for swallowtail butterflies and provide berries for birds.
Partlow has found additional uses for spice bush berries beyond their ecological benefits. He described using them as a sweet and peppery steak rub: “It’s pretty neat to harvest something in the wild that you can eat,” he said.
Volunteers also planted numerous black oak trees. Shaffer highlighted their importance: “Oaks are the most important of the hardwoods” due to their acorns providing food for various wildlife species.
To protect each sapling from deer roaming the camp's 2,000 acres, volunteers encircled them with plastic mesh tubes secured to stakes—a necessary but labor-intensive task.
“We are very fortunate to have built this relationship with FirstEnergy,” Partlow said. He acknowledged that while many areas of the camp need restoration, there are limited rangers available for such work.
Since 2020, FirstEnergy employees have volunteered extensively to plant over 100,000 trees across six states. In 2025 alone, they have already planted more than 16,500 trees toward their goal of 25,000 for the year. Over 4,000 of these trees were planted in Pennsylvania.
For Jake Marfin, Transmission Forestry Specialist at FirstEnergy’s Washington facility in Pennsylvania, participating in this project was personal: “I went to scout camp here from sixth grade until eleventh grade,” Marfin shared. “Getting the opportunity to check out my old stomping grounds is great. I get to relive my past and help improve the camp for future generations of scouts.”
For further details on FirstEnergy’s environmental initiatives and corporate responsibility efforts aimed at building a sustainable future visit www.fecorporateresponsibility.com.