Bucks County Airport Authority Awards Tree Grants to Two Local Organizations

Doylestown, PA – The Bucks County Airport Authority (BCAA) recently selected Hilltown Township Parks, Recreation and Open Space Departments and Bensalem Township School District as the 2011 beneficiaries of its Tree Donation Program. Under this program, each organization will receive $1,000 for the purchase and placement of trees.

The BCAA – which owns and operates Doylestown and Quakertown airports – recognizes that trees periodically have to be removed from its airports for safety reasons. Because of this, the BCAA launched its Tree Donation Program in 1998 as a way to give trees back to Bucks County.

Every year, BCAA selects Bucks County organizations that will benefit from the Tree Donation grants, which vary in size and quantity. The funds are earmarked solely for the purchase of trees that will be planted in local parks, school yards or other public spaces. 

“In the course of keeping the public airspace safe, we must regularly remove trees that have grown too tall,” says John Mininger, chairman of the BCAA Board. “This program allows us to give the trees we remove back to the landscape – be it to a borough, park or township – and the public.”

To apply for the Tree Donation Program, an organization must submit a written proposal to BCAA specifying the number and variety of trees requested, and where they will be planted. Upon receiving the grant, recipients must agree to plant and maintain the trees in healthy conditions.  BCAA selects recipients based upon the details of the proposal including timing, geographical location and budget.