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National Park Foundation
Contact: NPS - Mike Litterst, (202) 513-0354 Contact: NPF - Alanna Sobel, (202) 684-6479 Hundreds of Volunteers Honor the Heroes of Flight 93 Memorial Continues Restoration Effort with Second Massive Tree Planting Effort Shanksville, Pa. – Over the course of four days, April 19-20 and 26-27, the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation are continuing a major reforestation effort that will eventually result in 150,000 new trees at the Flight 93 National Memorial, the nation's permanent memorial to the 40 passengers and crew of United Flight 93, and all of those lost on September 11, 2001. Every year during National Park Week, America's national parks host public events and coordinate volunteer opportunities to celebrate the special occasion.For a second year, the Flight 93 National Memorial will honor National Park Week with Plant a Tree at Flight 93. The tree-planting events will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on April 19-20 and April 26-27. April 27 is an open registration day. Those interested in volunteering can sign up online at www.nps.gov/flni on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Flight 93 National Memorial will still be open to the public during regular visiting hours on the days of the tree-planting effort. Last year's reforestation effort consisted of hundreds of volunteers planting nearly 15,000 seedlings. This year, a team of nearly 600 volunteers under the guidance of tree-planting experts and professional landscapers will have the special opportunity to continue this effort and plant an additional 15,000 seedlings at the memorial. These trees, which are a mixture of several native species, will form an essential windbreak to protect trees planted in nearby memorial groves. Many sponsors have joined with the National Park Foundation to make this effort possible including Alcoa Foundation, NRG Energy, Pocono Raceway and NASCAR, Roy A. Hunt Foundation and The UPS Foundation. Additional National Park Service partners include the American Chestnut Foundation, Appalachian Regional Forest Initiative, Arbor Day Foundation, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial, Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining and Rosebud Mining Company. In addition to the Flight 93 National Memorial, other parks in Western Pennsylvania will also be hosting their own National Park Week events.For a full listing of all National Park Week events in Pennsylvania and across the country, go to www.nationalparkweek.org. For more information about how to support the Flight 93 National Memorial Campaign visit www.honorflight93.org. ### About the Flight 93 National Memorial.On September 24, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Flight 93 National Memorial Act. The Act created a new national park unit to commemorate the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who, on September 11, 2001, courageously gave their lives thereby thwarting a planned attack on our nation's capital. The memorial is near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed with the loss of its 40 passengers and crew. For more information about the Flight 93 National Memorial, please visit www.nps.gov/flni.For information on how to make a donation and help build the memorial, go to www.honorflight93.org. About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for About the National Park Foundation. The National Park Foundation, the official charity of
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Last updated: February 26, 2015