Southern California Edison to Donate 50,000 Trees to Great Park

The Orange County Great Park Corporation proudly announced its multi-faceted public-private partnership with Southern California Edison (SCE). 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 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 each year.

The Great Park Corporation’s long-term sustainable development partnership also includes a cooperative pursuit for environmentally sustainable design standards for both the public and private developments, exploring the funding and staffing of a Customer Energy Technology Center, good faith efforts to explore additional energy production augmentation to supplement renewable energy sources for the Great Park project, and encouraging alternative transportation modes.

“As a leader in renewable power delivery, we are proud of the role we are playing in the creation of the Great Park,” said Al Fohrer, SCE chief executive officer. SCE is committed to increasing energy efficiency, facilitating development, and advancing environmental stewardship through strong partnerships with the communities which it serves.”