The Peoples Tree Planting Begins after Fire

Saturday Memorial Day Weekend was a beautiful day - over one hundred people assembled at Blankenburgs Landing on Seagull Lake to assist home owners and businesses from the Seagull- Sag area to begin to replace their trees lost in the recent Ham Lake Fire. The next day, Sunday, it rained most of the day yet another sixty plus people showed up to continue planting. By the time the two planting sessions were completed over six-thousand red and white pine, cedar and white spruce seedlings were in the ground.

Joining the Seagull-Sag and Gunflint Trail residents were others from Grand Marais, Lutsen-Tofte and even as far away as the Twin Cities. Nancy Seaton, Chairperson of the Gunflint Trail Scenic Byways Committee (218-388-2275), who coordinated the weekend’s Peoples Planting sessions called this first effort, a good start. Local people of the area intend to continue planting trees on their land.

However, the fire burnt-over tens-of-thousands of acres owned by the U.S. Forest Service and the State of Minnesota DNR. The big question that is now being asked is what are these public agencies going to do about the blackened lands under their jurisdiction. People are hoping that these agencies do more then spent years writing yet another encyclopedia of fine unrealizable good intentions.