York County Municipal Tree Planting Project

The Rotary Club of Hanover is looking for volunteers to help us meet this goal for our assigned locations!

The Goal is to plant one tree in each of York County’s 72 Municipalities to celebrate York County’s 75^th Birthday, America’s 250^th Birthday, and the 250^th Anniversary of the Articles of Confederation being adopted in York!

Taking place on April 11th, 2026 - Expected time is 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on how many volunteers we have!

We will meet at the Penn Township Cardinal Drive Playground, 27 Cardinal Drive, Hanover PA 17331 @ 9am to pick up trees and head out!

Final Locations for our Rotary Club of Hanover Assigned Trees:

1. (Tenative as of 4/6) Codorus Twp Park, 12120 Rockville Rd, Glen Rock, PA
2. Hanover Borough Arboretum, 305 Baltimore St (rear), Hanover PA, 17331
3. Little Creek Community Park, 1657 Rt. 116 Spring Grove, PA
4. Jefferson Borough Office, 48 Baltimore St, Township of Codorus, PA 17311
5. Manheim Adventure Park, 4565 Campwoods Road, Glenville
6. Paradise Township Park "Farmers Fields", 3070 Church Road, Thomasville PA 17364
7. Penn Township Cardinal Drive Playground, 27 Cardinal Drive, Hanover PA 17331
8. West Manheim Elementary School, 2000 Baltimore Pike, Hanover PA 17331

How Do We Plant the Tree?

• Ensure the hole is the right size -
  • should not be deeper than the height of the bucket
  • hole should be wider than the 7-Gallon Bucket so it is not tight
• Put tree in the hole
  • make sure it is VERTICAL
  • back fill with dirt form hole
  • Stake the trees (Stakes & Rope)
• Spread included mulch if provided by your municapality
• Water tree (5 Gallons is plenty)

Here are some more details about the Sycamores/Planetrees, as we received some questions about moving trees from the meeting point to their planting destination:

• 7 Gallon Trees will be 6-8 feet tall – a pick up truck or flat bed truck with walls would be great to move a tree or trees
• SUVs would not be good for transporting trees, as there’s a high likelihood of damaging the tree to make them fit
• 7 Gallon Tree will weigh around 30-50 pounds depending on when it was watered
• Containers on the tree ball must be removed before the tree ball is placed in the hole – bring a utility knife to cut away the container

See the following planting videos:

Tree Planting Tips - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Go8wzzQnG0

How to Plant a Tree - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv_PU_NwJVw

To plant 9 trees in 9 different locations in your assigned zone, you will need:

• At least 2 people per tree – we encourage you to also engage your students of the month and other young people involved in your club to learn about the historic significance of the Liberty Tree of the American Revolution.
• A vehicle or vehicles to move the trees 
• A shovel to back fill dirt and mulch over the top of the dirt – each municipality will have the hole already dug, but we all must fill the dirt back in after we put the tree in the hole.
• Hammer for staking
• Jugs of water for watering each tree after it’s in the ground and they are roped and staked.  Save some milk jugs and fill them in advance of 4/11.
• Work gloves, closed toe shoes, clothing that properly covers your arms and legs.
• Utility knife to cut away the container from the root ball of the tree.