Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), Up With Trees and the Southern Hills Neighborhood Association will mark the completion of a project to plant 137 trees in the area of 61^st and Harvard with a planting ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m., Thursday, April 27. 
 
Over the past few weeks, more than 130 trees have been planted in the area around the southeast corner of the intersection.  On Thursday, the last five trees will be planted.
 
The planting has been a coordinated effort involving the neighborhood association, Up With Trees and PSO, but also included participation on the part of area resident Zach Weyland, who planted 30 trees as part of an Eagle Scout project.
 
The planting is the first under a new partnership between PSO, Up With Trees and area neighborhood associations in which the parties jointly develop a plan to replant appropriate trees and shrubs in public areas where older trees growing into overhead power lines must be removed to eliminate the safety hazards and electric reliability problems this creates.
 
“We are very pleased to have begun this new and creative way of working with Up With Trees and area neighborhood associations to address needs associated with both safety and electric reliability, while at the same time, working to help protect and develop Tulsa’s urban forest in ways that will benefit the city for years to come,” said Richard Bewley, PSO Forestry supervisor.
 
The location for Thursday’s planting is nearest to 61^st and Knoxville.
Plans for a second replanting project near the Gilcrease Hills addition in northwest Tulsa are currently being developed.
 
PSO, a unit of American Electric Power, is an electric utility company serving approximately 514,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  Based in Tulsa, PSO has more than 4,000 megawatts of generating capacity.