According to the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, planting trees provides a multitude of benefit to local ecosystems. These benefits include protecting soil from rill and sheet erosion, protecting water quality by filtering excess nutrients and chemicals from surface runoff, increasing infiltration rates and providing long term wildlife habitats. In partnership with the McCracken County Soil Conservation District, McCracken County Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Samantha Anderson, hosted a free tree seedling giveaway open to all McCracken County residents.

Hosted as a two-day event, three thousand seedlings were distributed at no cost to McCracken County residents. Variates distributed were selected based on local efficacy and included persimmon, Shumard oak, white oak and cypress,. In addition to the seedlings, participants were provided with educational resources related to plating, soil testing and environmental factors to consider.

Participants described their apperception for the program and the services that the Cooperative Extension Service provides to the community. This annual partnership program resulted in community wide exposure to a variety of both new and nontraditional Cooperative Extension Service clientele.