Alexandria’s 60-acre Four Mile Run Park has 50 new trees planted Friday, Oct. 4, by Intus Windows staff and clients—plus the Lithuanian ambassador to the United States—with inspiration and mentoring by Tree Stewards of Arlington and Alexandria.

Intus, which makes energy-efficient windows and doors, launched a “One Window One Tree” campaign In 2018 to take action to combat climate change. The company, which has a local office in the Merrifield area of Fairfax County, has a factory in Lithuania, and its two U.S. CEOs are Lithuanian. So it was only natural that Ambassador Rolandas Kriščiūnas would turn out not just for opening remarks but also to plant trees.

Alexandria officials on hand were Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, City Council members Del Pepper and Mo Seifeldein, and former mayor Allison Silberberg, who spurred city tree planting when in office and has supported Tree Stewards and Intus at previous plantings.

Intus brought more than 50 employees and 10 clients to the park and installed the 50 trees within 90 minutes. Tree Steward Bonnie Petry organized the planting and logistics with help from city natural resources staff members Bob Williams and Rod Simmons, arborist John Marlin and auger-runner Dion Bates. Because of the extended drought, some of the planting holes were opened with a massive auger. The Intus crew used pick-mattocks and shovels to dig the remaining holes in the parched soil.

Petry has long championed adding more trees in the heavily used park, where she and other Tree Stewards have planted trees at least three times in recent years. She worked to have the city buy the trees and approve the planting. Petry and nine other veteran Tree Steward volunteers supervised the planters, and seven of the current class of 30 Tree Steward trainees helped with logistics early in the day.

Here are some views of the day from photographer Travis Morgan.