The Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art has been digging a lot of holes the past few years, 25,000 to be precise. And the folks there are planning to dig another 25,000.

On April 19, the conservancy planted its 25,000^th tree as part of a reforestation project along the Brandywine Creek Watershed. Volunteers planted 650 trees along the creek in Downingtown near the intersection of Creek Road — Route 282 — and Dowlin Forge Road.

An army of volunteers from the conservancy, Victory Brewing Co. and the Downingtown Municipal Water Authority took part. The reforestation is seen as a way of

continually improving the water quality of the creek in general and specifically for those municipalities that rely on the creek for their water supply. The DMWA water intake is just downstream from last weekend’s planting.

Reforestation also slows down erosion, prevents sedimentation and filters out pollutants.

Conservancy Senior Advisor for Water Resources Wes Horner said the 25,000 trees were planted ahead of schedule. The plantings were part of a five-year plan that completed in less than 4-and-a-half years. They were planted in areas from Avondale to Honeybrook.

That, though, is now half the job. Conservancy Executive Director Virginia Logan said the new plan is to plant an additional 25,000 trees by the conservancy’s 50^th anniversary in 2017. She called it “50 by 50.”

That planting will be part of the Brandywine Greenway Project involving 24 municipalities on both sides of the creek. All want the green buffer, she said.

Logan addressed the crowd during a brief ceremony right before the planting of the 25,000^th tree.

“It’s nice to know there are so many people who like to plant trees, because we’re going to need you. We’re celebrating this milestone today by deciding it needs to be double or nothing,” she said explaining the 50 by 50 idea.

Jack Heinz, vice president of the Board of Trustees and the chairman of the marketing committee, then led the crowd in a root beer toast for the 50 by 50 project.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society is also involved. PHS has its own 1 million tree-planting program.

Glen Abrams, the director of Sustainable Communities of PHS, said the trees planted by the conservancy are part of his group’s goal of planting 1 million trees in Pennsylvania, South Jersey and in Delaware by the year 2020.

He said that would increase the tree count in the region by 30 percent.

Top photo: Wes Horner, senior land planner for water resources digs the hole for tree number 25,000.