ASHLAND, Ky., April 22, 2017 – Kentucky Power on Saturday gave away 5,000 low-growth tree saplings to customers in celebration of Earth Day and Arbor Day.
“Low-growth trees are great for use in landscaping around homes,” said Dusty Roll, region forestry supervisor for Kentucky Power. “These kinds of trees typically have a nice shape, are slow growers and will not grow so tall that they interfere with overhead utility lines or structures. Plus, planting trees is an excellent way to improve the environment, add beauty to the landscape and improve air quality.”
The free saplings were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies lasted beginning at 9 a.m. in Ashland, Hazard, Pikeville and Whitesburg. Available varieties were Grey Dogwood, Roughleaf Dogwood and Eastern Redbud. The annual event is always popular with customers, said Del Borden, Kentucky Power’s director for customer service and business development based in Ashland.
“We have some customers who come by every year to add to their landscaping,” Borden said. “I had one customer brag about how pretty her dogwood is that she planted as a sapling about five years ago.”
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Kentucky Power, with headquarters in Ashland, Ky., provides service to about 168,000 customers in all or part of 20 eastern Kentucky counties. It is an operating company in the American Electric Power system, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity and custom energy solutions to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states. AEP owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a more than 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
