UMC Students Plant a Forest

How many trees does it take to make a forest? That’s a question faculty, staff, and students in the Natural Resources Department at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) recently asked as they embarked on their 20^th annual volunteer tree-planting trip. 

A group of volunteers from UMC set out on the morning of April 25 for the Chippewa National Forest, east of Bemidji on US Highway 2.   For Phil Baird, assistant professor of natural resources, and Tom Feiro, senior lab services coordinator, this trip marked the 20^th anniversary of their first tree-planting trip to this site.  In twenty years' time Baird and Feiro estimate that UMC volunteers have planted 140,000 trees—roughly equivalent to a 220-acre forest.  This year’s group added about 4,000 trees to that grand total.

While planting the trees, the students learn about forest ecosystems in a real-life laboratory.  They can see the various growth stages of trees planted by UMC groups in previous years.  Baird and Feiro brought this year’s volunteer group  to the site where UMC students planted their first saplings twenty years ago.  Today that area is home to red pines averaging about 24 feet high.  The group even encountered a porcupine, adding a little wildlife excitement to the learning experience.

Baird says the tree-planting trip has become a tradition with UMC Natural Resources students.  “It’s something our former students always talk about when they come back to campus,” he says.  “And it’s a good volunteer experience with the U.S. Forest Service for a student’s resume.” 

Audrey Gustufson, a forester with the U.S. Forest Service, joined in on the celebratory mood and presented Baird and Feiro with volunteer awards marking 20 years of tree planting and recognizing the two for coordinating the project over that time.  

The following students took part in this year’s tree-planting trip:  Chris Alford, Andy Barnum, Nico Bennet, Richard Bohnen, Kara Clancy, Ben Feiro, Tyler Gensrich, Ryan Gilbertson, Kati Klaverkamp, Jenny Linder, Dan Oberg, Justin Petrich, Kelly Sleen, and Lance Readel.  Faculty and staff members Bill Haase and John Loegering also took part in the trip, along with Baird and Feiro.  

The project is one of several volunteer projects done by UMC’s Natural Resources Department and its students.  UMC students have also been involved with trail clearing projects in the Superior National Forest; they have collected prairie seeds and have conducted a bird census at Rydell Wildlife Area near Crookston; and they recently helped post conservation easement boundary signs at the site of the proposed Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge.

 

Posted  05/16/2002
Contact: Andrew Svec, 218-281-8435

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