The Bethlehem Authority and Bonn Place Brewing in South Bethlehem are partnering in a tree planting project on Bethlehem Authority Watershed property in Monroe County.

After determining what their business carbon footprint was, Sam Masotto and Kevin Geidasch decided they should do something about it.

It was Kevin’s idea to hold a fund raiser, Tattoos For Trees, which was held Aug. 20 at Bonn Place Brewing. Tree/beer themed tattoos were offered to all attendees and an amazing $2,600 was raised during the event.

When it came time to figure out where to plant trees that would potentially offset their carbon footprint, they turned to friend and customer Steve Repasch, executive director of the Bethlehem Authority. What a better way to offset their carbon footprint than to plant trees in the watershed that ultimately protects the most important ingredient in their product, high-quality Bethlehem water.

Repasch then went to Authority Consulting Forester Robin Wildermuth of Woodland Management Services and found a three-acre site on the property that was slated for a planting at a later date anyway.

Wildermuth determined that the most appropriate tree to plant that would offer the fastest return in terms of growth rate is a Dunkel Larch hybrid, a conifer that sheds its needles every fall. Site preparation at the Authority’s expense, with assistance from the city’s staff at Wild Creek, will take place this fall with planting of approximately 1,500 seedlings scheduled for the spring of 2020. Volunteers are already signing up to help with the planting.

For additional information contact Kevin or Sam at Bonn Place Brewing at 610-419-6660 or sam@bonnbrewing.com, or Steve Repasch at the Bethlehem Authority at srepasch@bethlehem-pa.gov.

Contributed article