Planting a stronger river & community

The Nashwaak Watershed Association Inc (NWAI) celebrated National Tree Day (September 23^rd) with a two day teaching and tree planting event.

  

This two day event started early on September 23^rd when the Nashwaak Watershed Association, led by the Present Paul McLaughlin, brought a hundred silver maple seedlings and several larger silver maple trees to the Gibson-Neil Elementary school to plant with fourth grade students.

 

The students planted their seedlings in small pots and are now responsible for seeing these little trees through their first winter and into the ground next spring. The larger trees found homes around the school grounds.

 September 24^th, a wonderful group of volunteers from McInnes & Cooper Law firm came out to help these same students add 75 more silver maple trees to the NWAI’s collection of trees already putting roots down in the floodplain south of the Marysville Heritage Center.

With this crew, the NWAI was able to get all the trees in the ground within the hour; a job which, otherwise, might have taken a full weekend.

This work is part of NWAI’s developing outreach program to help children understand the importance and uniqueness of different forests through experiential learning. Further, these plantings are part of a larger ongoing effort by the NWAI to re-establish the silver maple floodplain forests retired hay fields in the lower Nashwaak.

 

 

I am new to the organization and just getting to know the communities of the Nashwaak Watershed. What struck me most over these two days was how willing the teachers, students, and volunteers were to come out and help us get these trees -that often out-weighted and out-stretched our fourth grade volunteers- into the ground.  Starting in this position I often wonder how we will reach our reforestation goals and, I guess now, I had little more hope. Maybe we are not alone in our goal of making the river just a little stronger, a little more resilient, and a little more interconnected.  Of course, maybe that is too philosophical, maybe everyone just came out for the Timbits….