Gunflint Green Up in spite of the Weather -Thousands of Trees Planted

Saturday morning as the Gunflint Green Up was about to begin and in spite of four inches of fresh snow, which had fallen during the night, an estimated four hundred and seventy five tree planter armed with planting equipment fanned out over the site of last springs Ham Lake Fire. By noon as the planters stopped for their lunches the sun had come out the temperature risen and most of the snow had melted. Nancy Seaton, Gunflint Committee Chairperson proclaimed, "that the weather had turned into a great day for planting."

Vicki Grassl, from Pine City Minnesota, and who was staying at Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B claimed that she and her friend Debra Erickson from Wyoming Minnesota planted well over three hundred trees. Another guest at a Poplar Creek, Steve Alderson, from Minneapolis, and who in the 1960's was a fishing guide on Sag Lake felt that by participating in the tree planting help him to reconnect with his earlier life, "I feel like I really belong to the Trail," Alderson said after a day of tree planting.

While the final number of trees planted has yet to be totaled it is estimated that the Gunflint Green resulted in the planting of some 40,000-50,000 young red and white pines trees.

According to Dennis Neitzky, Gunflint District Ranger-USFS, who assisted the Gunflint Green Up Committee in coordinating the tree planting, "the project was a huge success and a was great start in renewing the forest burned over by last year's Ham Lake Fire."