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State Pledges to Plant Red Maple Trees at Flight 93 Memorial

The state will fund the purchase, delivery and planting of 450 red maple trees at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County, Gov. Tom Corbett announced Wednesday.

The “Red Sunset” maples will be planted next spring along the Memorial Groves walkway from the visitor center to the memorial plaza at the crash site.

“This planting at Flight 93 provides an opportunity to engage the public in the hopeful act of planting a tree at the site of a national tragedy,” Corbett said in a statement.

The state’s TreeVitalize program is contributing $160,000 to the project.

Forty passengers and crew were killed when Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Erie, PA native has been a fellow in the WESA news department since May 2013. Having earned a bachelor's degree in print journalism from Duquesne University, he is now pursuing an M.A. in multi-media management. Michael describes his career aspiration as "I want to do it all in journalism."