By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

CONVENT – Areas across St. James Parish are about to get a little greener thanks to a grant program that will bring new trees to the area.

The Apache Foundation of Houston has chosen St. James Parish to receive about 2,000 trees to be planted throughout the parish. The donation is part of a nationwide grant program that encourages enhancement of “green appeal” in industrialized areas. Apache Foundation officials say the company strives to build relationships with communities through civic improvements and environment education.

“Trees are an effective way to better our communities by reducing sound, producing oxygen and increasing property values,” said Obie O’Brian, vice president for the Apache Foundation.

St. James Parish spokesperson Melissa Wilkins said the Public Works department has been working with the foundation regarding the tree grant since March. She said trees will begin to be planted in the parish as early as this fall.

Since the program’s inception in 2006, the Apache Foundation has helped provide nearly 1.8 million trees to over 250 non-profit organizations across 14 states through grants. Apache officials believe the trees will improve the environment and the quality of life in the communities in which they are planted for decades to come. The foundation is a branch of the Apache Corp., an independent exploration and production company that is also the largest acreage holder and second-largest oil and gas producer in Gulf of Mexico in waters to 1,200 feet deep.

Last year, after Apache Corp. achieved its initial goal of one million trees, the company established a new goal of planting two million more trees while encouraging additional communities to participate.