EASTON, Pa. — Louise Moore Park in Lower Nazareth Township soon will be home to more than 80 additional species of trees, thanks to donations from a Lehigh County resident.
Northampton County Council voted unanimously last week to accept Robert Seip’s collection of more than 150 conifers worth about $5,100 in all, according to county officials.
Seip assembled the collection at his home in western Lehigh County over the course of decades, Northampton County Superintendent of Parks Brian Cope said.
“It’s a great win for all of us."
Northampton County Superintendent of Parks Brian Cope
But Seip is less able to care for the trees as he ages, Cope said.
Once the trees are transplanted in the Louise Moore Park arboretum, they will be the centerpiece of a new “conifer garden,” complete with additional walking paths and landscaping.
The design will resemble similar installations at Haverford College in Haverford, Delaware County, and other arboreta around Philadelphia.
Cope said that a Penn State-Berks professor assisting with the project called the new trees “some of the most valuable ones that he’s ever seen."
"And putting them in a public park situation would greatly enhance both the park, but also educational opportunities,” Cope said.
“It’s a great win for all of us."
Northampton County’s Wayne Grube Park, in Allen Township, also will get 100 new trees donated by Erie Insurance, which has an office nearby.
They will be integrated into areas where the county parks department has recently planted riparian buffer and agroforestry projects, Cope said.