Just in time for Arbor Day, today forestry students at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point began distributing 1,500 white pine seedlings to various area locations to help grow the educational forests of tomorrow.
The trees will be planted at four Stevens Point district schools (Kennedy, Madison, Mc Dill and Plover-Whiting), at schools in Stratford and Amherst, including the Tomorrow River Community Charter School, and at the grounds of Menominee Tribal Enterprises and Fox Valley Technical College.
The Menominee Nation, Forestry Professor Rich Hauer and several UW-Stevens Point natural resources student organizations helped with the project, which aims to have students at each location plant and care for the new trees as part of the Canopy Project for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
“We hope to show high school and middle school students how to get involved in creating the healthy forests of the future,” said Eden Clymire-Stern, vice president of Student Society of Arboriculture and a graduate student in natural resources with a specialization in urban and community forestry.
The tree seedlings were donated by the U.S. Forest Service.