The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

Related Photos

  • Pat Christman

    Trees1

  • Pat Christman

    Trees3

  • Pat Christman

    Trees2

April 19, 2008

Hundreds turn out to plant thousands of trees

By Mark Fischenich

NORTH MANKATO — The saplings didn’t look like much, just foot-long twigs with a few straggly roots attached.

It took some imagination, a fair amount of faith and a real aptitude for patience to envision the twigs turning into a forest of towering cottonwood, maple and basswood trees.

Sort of like the imagination required to believe that a handful of local environmentalists could raise thousands of dollars to buy trees and get hundreds of area residents to give up a Saturday to plant more than 13,000 of them.

Sort of like the faith required to believe that slaving away on a cool, damp April day in Mankato and North Mankato might make a difference in slowing the rate of global climate change.

Sort of like the patience required to reach a personal goal of 100 seedlings planted in the belief that those 100 might eventually be joined by 999,900 others.

Those attitudes, along with a great doses of optimism, were prevalent Saturday as the Million Tree Project got underway along Highway 14.



For complete story, see the Sunday, Arpil 20, 2008, print edition of The Free Press or sign onto our e-edition.

Click here to access Free Press e-edition

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News