Erin Bailey, public relations specialist at Diamondback Energy, sat down with the Permian Press to discuss their local tree-planting tradition, how it started, and where it’s going.

Diamondback Energy has quietly helped add hundreds of trees to Midland parks over the past six years, turning a volunteer effort into one of the city’s more visible park beautification projects.

In partnership with the City of Midland and Keep Midland Beautiful, the company has planted 640 trees in more than 10 parks across Midland since 2020. The effort brings employees, city staff, and community volunteers together twice a year, usually around Arbor Day and Texas Arbor Day, to plant drought-tolerant trees chosen for West Texas conditions.

Erin Bailey, public relations specialist for Diamondback Energy, said the project started as part of a broader effort to improve the quality of life in the community where many of the company’s employees live and work.

“A lot of what we do with our volunteer initiatives is asking, ‘What can we do to improve the cities where our employees live and work?’”

Bailey said the partnership worked naturally because Keep Midland Beautiful already had ties to the City of Midland Parks and Recreation Department and could help select the right trees for local parks.

“We’re going to plant trees, and who knows about the trees that will live in Midland better than Keep Midland Beautiful?” Bailey said.

The city and Keep Midland Beautiful identify which parks need trees most before each planting. Keep Midland Beautiful then helps choose species that can handle Midland’s climate, including Eastern red cedars, vitex, desert willows, and Mexican white oaks. According to Keep Midland Beautiful most of the selected trees are fast-growing and grow several feet per year, ensuring shade as soon as possible.

“They have never once chosen a tree that’s not perfect for the Midland climate,” Bailey said. “We provide drip irrigation, but even so, we want to make sure that it can sustain with just a little bit of water in case something happens.”

Bailey said the project is about more than landscaping. She said the effort reflects a larger goal of helping employees and residents see Midland as a place to invest in the long term, adding that planting roots where you are can be very fulfilling.

“Especially in the oil and gas industry, you always hear that people are coming to do their time in Midland and then leave,” Bailey said. “We really want to help. Being headquartered in the Permian, we are the ones that can help change that narrative.”

The volunteer effort has also become a companywide event with participants wearing shirts featuring the phrase “Our West Texas roots run deep” on the back. Bailey said about 100 employees typically take part in each planting, with workers from across departments joining in.

“You always meet someone new because we have about 1,500 employees in Midland,” Bailey said. “You can know a lot of them, but there’s still someone you haven’t met.”

Some plantings have also included local students. If a park is near a school, students may be invited to help. Bailey said one 2024 event included more than 50 fifth graders from South Elementary.

“The kids are always encouraged to give names to the trees,” Bailey said. “All the kids just loved getting to pick the names, saying things like ‘I can’t wait to see where Mario is in three years.’. We hope that’s just a memory they’re gonna hold for a lifetime.”

Bailey added that they hope the kids involved in the planting are encouraged to continue making Midland a more beautiful place to live.

“We know we can always use more trees and more green,” she said.

Since 2020, the program has expanded steadily. What began with around 100 trees a year has grown to nearly 200 planted in 2025, helped in part by added volunteer capacity following Diamondback’s Endeavor acquisition. Bailey said the company plans to continue the effort, with the next planting taking place at Ulmer Park on Friday, April 10th.

Residents who want to follow future volunteer opportunities can watch Keep Midland Beautiful’s social media pages for updates.

Here is where the plantings have taken place so far:

2020: Lancaster Park — 25 trees

2021: Sidwell Park — 35 trees; Dunagan Park — 45 trees

2022: Taylor Park — 35 trees; Grasslands Park — 65 trees

2023: Martin Luther King Jr. Park — 50 trees; Sparks Park — 50 trees

2024: Garrett-Brown Park — 65 trees; Halff Park — 45 trees

2025: Reyes-Mashburn-Nelms Park — 100 trees; Ratliff Park — 75 trees

South Elementary 5th-grade students involved in Texas Arbor Day 2024 planting: