Announcing a new staff member

Tree Pitts­burgh is very hap­py to announce a new mem­ber of the staff. This indi­vid­ual is unique­ly qual­i­fied to work at Tree Pitts­burgh in a way no oth­er employ­ee has been before. This staff mem­ber is some­thing of a tree afi­ciona­do. They grew up in the trees – literally.

Who is this rather pecu­liar individual?

Pitts­burgh, meet Oak­lee the Squirrel.

Oak­lee is Tree Pittsburgh’s new mas­cot! If you attend­ed Arbor Aid in Sep­tem­ber, you may have seen Oak­lee make an appear­ance at our fam­i­ly sto­ry time. We hired Oak­lee on a tem­po­rary basis for Arbor Aid and they passed with fly­ing (get it, fly­ing squir­rel?) col­ors, so we’re here to announce their per­ma­nent place on our staff.

Get to know Oak­lee a bit below and keep your eyes peeled for a chance to win din­ner and flow­ers deliv­ered by Oak­lee for Valentine’s Day!

Tree Pitts­burgh: Oak­lee, please tell us a bit about your back­ground. Where are you from?

Oak­lee: I was born and raised in Schen­ley Park in the oak trees on Flagstaff Hill and I’ve lived there ever since. That is, until I moved to Lawrenceville to work for Tree Pitts­burgh in September.

Tree Pitts­burgh: Inter­est­ing. Real­ly cool of you to relo­cate for the job, we appre­ci­ate it.

Oak­lee: It’s no prob­lem, real­ly. The river­fronts in Pitts­burgh are beau­ti­ful, and I’m excit­ed about the chance to see a new part of the city.

Tree Pitts­burgh: So what kind of work will you do for Tree Pitts­burgh? What will your day-to-day tasks be?

Oak­lee: I’m join­ing Tree Pitts­burgh to help with events. From tree plant­i­ngs, to tree care, to give­aways and every­thing in between, I’ll be around to make sure they’re more fun.

Tree Pitts­burgh: Oak­lee, that’s real­ly great. Thanks so much for com­ing on board. This might seem like a weird ques­tion, but hear me out. We like to have pot lucks or bring in food for each oth­er in the Tree Pitts­burgh office, and some­times we have food at our events. What kinds of things does a squir­rel like you like to eat?

Oak­lee: I eat lots of things. Most peo­ple know squir­rels for eat­ing acorns and while we do eat those, we’ll eat lots more, too. We eat all sorts of nuts, and I like fruits and veg­eta­bles too. Squir­rels eat meat, but I’m more of a veg­e­tar­i­an personally.

Tree Pitts­burgh: Okay, great. I’ll make a note of that and we’ll try to have some nuts on hand for you. We’ll let you go, but what’s one big thing you’re excit­ed about work­ing on with Tree Pitts­burgh this year?

Oak­lee: I’m real­ly excit­ed about a con­test we have com­ing up in Feb­ru­ary. Show your love for trees by donat­ing to Tree Pitts­burgh, and we’ll send a valen­tine to the per­son of your choice! Bet­ter yet, for every dona­tion of $25 or more, your name will be entered to win din­ner and flow­ers deliv­ered by yours tru­ly for you and your sweet­heart on Valentine’s Day.

Tree Pitts­burgh: Oak­lee, that sounds awe­some! Thank you so much.

Pitts­burgh, keep your eyes peeled for more oppor­tu­ni­ties to meet Oak­lee and for our Show Your Love for Trees con­test com­ing soon!