FirstBank Puerto Rico reforesting Río Piedras areas
A group of FirstBank volunteers and area residents planted the trees for the Río Piedras arboretum.
FirstBank Puerto Rico volunteers recently came together with residents from the Antonsanti, Belisa, Caribe and Villa Canales neighborhoods in Río Piedras, to participate in the “Arboretum” urban forestry planting project. The initiative falls under the bank’s “One with the Environment” program.
As part of the reforestation plan of the area’s main entrance, which is bordered by the Mongil and Buena Vista waterways, the group that included 10 FirstBank volunteers planted a total of 186 trees representing 25 native species.
To achieve the Arboretum’s design, aspects such as the need for densification, adult sizes of the selected species, site conditions, characteristics of each species and the need to be properly planted without affecting the existing infrastructure, were considered.
“FirstBank is committed to helping promote environmental care. Participating in projects of this nature gives us great satisfaction, as it is part of our social responsibility campaign,” said Aurelio Alemán, president of FirstBank.
“More and more communities come to us to create alliances to benefit environmental conservation. This time, they are our neighbors in Río Piedras who have asked us to collaborate on the reforestation of their community,” Alemán said.
As part of the project, residents agreed to provide maintenance of the trees, which act as a buffer between the area’s main road, a retention pond and the Urban Train station in Cupey. The residents established a volunteer program for watering, weeding and protecting the newly planted trees.
The project also involved the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust, which offered guidance to residents.
In 1975 and 1976, when I was 18-19 years old, I organized a reforestation drive in Cupey. We planted dozens, if not hundreds, of San Juan City Govt.-supplied “caobas hondureñas” and other small trees. Every time I drive past one of the now big trees that I helped plant 35-plus years ago, I realize the long-term benefits of a simple, individual-driven tree-planting drive. The FirstBank volunteers have no idea of the magnitude of pride and satisfaction they will derive for decades to come from the reforestation efforts they’re involved in today.