Arbor Day blankets the county in new growth

• Arbor Day at South Terrace

Students from South Terrace Elementary in Carlton display excitement over the tree seedlings donated to each of them by the Carlton Area Lions Club last week in recognition of Arbor Day. Photo Contributed by Joel Soukkala
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A number of recent events in celebration of Arbor Day have contributed greatly to the environment and taught hundreds of school kids the value of taking care of it.

The Carlton Area Lions Club donated over 600 tree seedlings to area schools, including Churchill, Washington and Queen of Peace in Cloquet, South Terrace in Carlton and Wrenshall, in honor of Arbor Day. Lions Club member Joel Soukkala said the local contribution adds to the over 7 million trees that Lions members around the world have planted.

Queen of Peace received 100 trees in honor of the school’s anniversary, and the entire student body took a bus to the Stracek farm to plant them.

At South Terrace, the seedlings contributed by the Lions made it possible for each student to take one home to plant. Local Lions Club members visited with students and told them the importance of trees and volunteering.

In addition, the Cloquet office of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources donated 400 white spruce seedlings to the school to add to those planted around the perimeter of the grounds in previous years.

“It’s been a great partnership,” said Principal BJ Berg, who reported that the seedlings planted other years have had a high rate of survival and will someday create a great windbreak for the school grounds.

Carlton Area Lions Club members, who will be celebrating the club’s 40th anniversary this weekend, also planned to plant another 200 larger trees around the area in the next two weeks.

Carlton County’s 22nd Annual Arbor Day Tree Planting event was held on Thursday. All Carlton County fourth-graders were invited to participate, with some 350 students and teachers expected to take part. Participants practiced tree planting and learned about forest management on county forest land near Iverson. Five hundred trees are provided by the Minnesota State Nursery in Willow River, and Minnesota Power gave each student a tree to take home. This event was made possible by the Carlton County Land Department, Carlton County Soil and Water Conservation District, the University of Minnesota Extension Service, the Kettle River Woodland Council, Master Gardeners, and Sappi Fine Paper.

Tags: carlton county, updates, cloquet, outdoors