“She’s sick,” Heather Ballenger wrote in an email to us at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) in mid-summer. “I don’t know what is going on with her. I can’t lose her.”
Heather was in distress over the condition of a four-year-old tree in her backyard. But most of all, she feared losing the emotional connection with her late mother that the Eastern Redbud has provided.
The Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership (K10) planted the tree in Heather’s Harrisburg City yard in early 2024 as part of a project with Penn State Health, exploring the health benefits of trees.
The statewide K10 was launched in 2018 and coordinated by CBF, with the goal of adding 10 million native trees in Pennsylvania by the end of this year.
Heather named her tree “Eila” after her mother Eileen, who died more than 20 years ago. She began talking to the five-foot tree before it was planted.
Spending time near trees can ease anxiety, lift mood, and support healing—offering a natural, accessible path to mental wellness.
A widely cited study by Harvard Health published in 2014 found that people living in neighborhoods with more green space reported significantly lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Beyond the emotional healing Heather experienced, trees offer a quiet kind of public health protection that often goes unnoticed.
A large-scale study in Louisville found that residents in neighborhoods with abundant tree canopy showed significantly lower levels of inflammation, a marker linked to heart disease and diabetes.
The health benefits were comparable to regular exercise or being nearly a decade younger.
Trees also reduce nuisance flooding and filter out pollutants in stormwater runoff. Streams bordered by forests cleanse themselves of pollution more effectively than those without tree cover.
Trees clean the air we breathe. Their shade cools our neighborhoods, softening the harsh edges of summer heat and reducing the risk of heat-related illnesses, especially for those most vulnerable.
Communities are also discovering that trees also help make neighborhoods safer. In Philadelphia, researchers found greening vacant lots with trees, wildflowers, and other plants led to a nearly 30 percent drop in gun violence.
In Baltimore, areas with more tree canopy saw lower rates of robbery and assault.
These studies found that trees foster pride, encourage outdoor presence, and create spaces where neighbors feel safer and more connected.
Heather is on disability and in therapy for depression and anxiety.
Her therapist suggested she go outside and sit with Eila.
“I sit outside in the sun, listen to music and talked to her as if she is real and as a friend,” Heather says. “It was the most therapeutic session that I had that I didn’t have to pay for.”
Heather has a grown son and daughter. She was raised by her grandparents because her mother worked.
Yet, she feels that her mother was always there for her. Eileen died in 2001 at the age of 57.
Her story illustrates how something as simple as planting and caring for a tree can nurture healing, connection, and resilience in both people and the communities they call home.
Heather did not grieve her mother properly because then she would have to acknowledge that she was really gone.
Much time passed before she visited her mother’s burial place in Florida.
The tree is healing from extreme heat and dry conditions that caused Heather’s urgent email.
Eastern Redbuds are pretty drought tolerant after about three years. Eila’s slightly wilted leaves, some with brown spots, were the result of not enough water getting to the deeper roots.
After some much-needed watering, the tree’s condition improved, and Heather’s mother-daughter connection continues.
“I feel like being able to talk to Eila and about my Mom has been the most cathartic, grieving, healing process,” Heather says. “I don’t cry when I talk about my Mom anymore.”
Heather’s journey is one of many unfolding across Pennsylvania, where trees planted through the K10 program are quietly transforming streams, lives, and communities.
Click Here for a copy of the CBF article.
Visit the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership to learn more about the benefits of planting trees.
For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-PA webpage. Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column). Click Here to support their work.
How Clean Is Your Stream?
The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.
Click Here to check out your streams. Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.
[Posted: September 8, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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