Green Bay Packers Celebrate Fifth Year of “First Downs for Trees” Program

Over the past five years, the Green Bay Packers have collaborated with partners Green Bay Packaging Inc. and SCA along with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Wisconsin Public Service to donate trees to local communities for each first down they gain on the field. Last Tuesday, former Packers players joined team and local officials to plant trees at the Norbert Hill Center in Oneida. In total, 18 communities around Green Bay received 530 trees from local nurseries this year as part of the Packers’ “First Downs for Trees” program.Since instituting the program in 2011, the Packers have donated more than 3,200 trees to neighboring communities as one facet of a sustainability plan that also includes recycling and landfill diversion programs. The sum of these donations is estimated to provide a lifetime total of more than $15 million in benefits via stormwater runoff reduction, carbon dioxide emissions reduction, air quality improvement, energy savings, and increased property values.“The Packers and our partners, Green Bay Packaging and SCA, are excited to support our local communities again with trees from the program,” Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy said at the event in Oneida. “With 530 additional trees planted this year, we’re pleased to know that we’re having a positive impact on reducing our carbon footprint.”