2025 Spring Tree Planting a Success

Last tree planted!!
What a great 2-day spring planting event! Thirty-seven individuals representing 6 organizations came together on May 9 and 10 and underplanted 643 trees in the predominantly black ash forest on the Friends’ conservation property.

Generous funding from two Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation funds has enabled the FNPCW to engage in this ambitious 5-year forest underplanting project – the Biodiversity Fund and the Fund for the Environment. The Friends are grateful for this funding, without which this project would not be possible.

Volunteers planted disease resistant St. Croix American elm, swamp white oak, bur oak, and bitternut hickory trees this spring. This is the third year of a five-year initiative to underplant portions of the Friend’s conservation property that constitute the headwaters of North Pikes Creek, a Class I trout stream that flows into Chequamegon Bay. This work increases the diversity of tree species that will thrive as the climate changes; ensures that wildlife will continue to have food and shelter into the future; and protects the Creek from flashy runoff and resulting erosion and siltation of the aquatic habitat.

Our thanks to all the dedicated planters who represented the following organizations: Friends of North Pikes Creek Wetlands, Superior Rivers Watershed Association, Lincoln Community Forest, Wild Ones Chequamegon Bay, Great Lakes Trout Unlimited, and the Ashland High School WATERS Club. If you missed the great planting event this year — you can join us for planting next Spring! Mark your calendar for May 8th and 9th, 2026.