Orange County Great Park to Plant and Grow 50,000 Trees from Southern California Edison Partnership

MARCH 6, 2006 – IRVINE, California – The Orange County Great Park Corporation proudly announced today its multi-faceted public private partnership with Southern California Edison (SCE) at a special ceremony March 3, 2006. The collaboration will advance environmental stewardship and support sustainable development of the Orange County Great Park. The alliance includes the growing and replanting of 50,000 trees throughout the Great Park’s 1,347-acre public area and the development of state-of-the-art design standards for energy efficient buildings in the park and in the adjacent communities.

Larry Agran, Irvine City Councilman and Chair of the Orange County Great Park Corporation, called the partnership a model for cooperation between the public and private sectors.

“SCE’s investment in the Great Park will make the Park green in more ways than one. In addition to donating 50,000 beautiful trees, SCE will make the Great Park a showplace for state-of-the-art sustainable development technologies. It is my hope that this will pave the way for partnerships with other forward-thinking companies as we create the first great metropolitan park of the 21st Century,” said Agran.

SCE will cultivate, plant and grow the trees for use in the Great Park over a 10-year period, based on the capacity of their Auberry, California Tree Farm. SCE will cultivate the trees at its tree farm and transport them to selected SCE rights-of-way within Orange County for further growth before turning them over to be replanted in the Great Park. The initial planting of about 5,000 seedlings has already begun this spring.

This forestation of the Great Park will significantly improve the region’s environmental quality by generating oxygen and removing an estimated 2,500 tons of carbon monoxide along with some 500,000 pounds of other pollutants such as ozone each year.

The Great Park Corporation’s long-term sustainable development partnership also includes:

• Significant energy efficient model programs installed in all public buildings within the park;
• A cooperative agreement for environmentally sustainable design standards for both the public and private developments;
• Exploring the funding and staffing of a Customer Energy Technology Center;
• Exploration of additional renewable energy sources for the Great Park project, and
• Technology expertise for alternative transportation modes.

Al Fohrer, SCE chief executive officer, said that the company is committed to increasing energy efficiency, facilitating development, and advancing environmental stewardship through strong partnerships with the communities that it serves.

“Southern California Edison is committed to sustainable development strategies that ensure both the long-term economic health and the environmental quality of the communities we serve,” Fohrer said. “This is the largest new environmental stewardship project in our service territory.”

The 1,347-acre Orange County Great Park will be a major metropolitan park and the focal point of redevelopment of the larger 4,700-acre former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro located in Irvine, California, and designated for closure more than a decade ago. The Great Park will include extensive natural areas in addition to recreational and cultural uses. The remaining 3,700-acre area will be revitalized by the Lennar Corporation and will include residential, educational, commercial and retail uses, and other supporting facilities.

For more information about the Orange County Great Park, go to www.ocgp.org.

Press Contacts:
Maryann Maloney
(949) 375-0856