In 1997, the Alliance completed a riparian forest buffer demonstration area along Asylum Run on the Pennsylvania State Hospital grounds. Seventy volunteers helped plant 500 trees obtained through the National Tree Trust.

The Alliance secured a total of 8,200 trees through the National Tree Trust. Many were potted by volunteers and students at a grow-out station location at Fort Hunter Park, Harrisburg, a Dauphin County Parks and Recreation property.

These trees were used for differing buffer and habitat restoration projects – from Hart Miller Island in Baltimore Harbor to Trout Run in Cumberland County, PA