Volunteers Invited to Help Plant 100 Trees

Thanks to a $10,000 grant from Alliant Energy, MIU will be planting about 100 trees on campus this month, with volunteers invited to help with the planting on Saturday and Sunday, April 23 and 24.

The trees to be planted include 6 American linden, 8 bald cypress, 8 Kentucky coffeetree, 7 London planetree, 25 swamp white oak, 3 Ohio buckeye, 4 eastern redbud, 4 river birch, 4 shagbark hickory, 4 thornless honey locust, 7 tulip tree, and 15 white pine.

The trees will be planted near the Domes, Crow Creek bridge, and the Dreier Building, as well as on old campus and along Highway 1.

Volunteers are invited to meet at the north parking lot of the Women’s Dome at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 23, for a tree-planting demonstration by Trees Forever, an Iowa organization that will be assisting with the planting.

Tree holes will be predrilled by machine, but volunteers are invited to bring shovels and gloves for the process of putting the trees in the ground.

Planting will be 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 1:30–4:00 pm, April 23 and 24. The rain date will be Saturday, April 29.

“We’ve lost many trees on campus in recent years due to drought and disease,” said Tom Brooks, MIU vice president of expansion and sustainability. “This is a significant step in the replanting of campus, and we hope to be able to continue planting each spring and fall with the assistance of the community. We are grateful to Alliant Energy and Trees Forever for this significant grant support.”

Jim Karpen is a writer by trade, with a special focus on technology. He has a Ph.D. in English and studied the impact of the computerization of language. In addition to writing for iPhone Life magazine, he has also been writing a column about the Internet for the Iowa Source since 1994. He also edits and publishes the MUM Review.