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Mayor Larson and Community Celebrate Arbor Day 2016

 Hartley Park to get 3500 new trees

[Duluth, MN] - Today, Mayor Emily Larson joined the Urban Forest Commission, Community Action Duluth – Duluth Stream Corps team, Hartley Nature Center staff and students, and community members today to plant a tree in celebration of Arbor Day 2016. Mayor Larson also issued a proclamation in honor of this special day started in 1872, when J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. This “holiday” has since been observed throughout the nation and the world.  

“I’m excited to celebrate Arbor Day 2016 with the community. It’s a special occasion marked with mixed emotions this year as we saw devastating damage inside Hartley Park from the windstorm. Yet, it provides us an opportunity to support regrowth in numbers, 3500 to be exact, in the heart of Duluth. I am grateful to CN, America in Bloom and the Duluth Stream Corps for their partnership as we work to revitalize Hartley Park and make it a regionally significant park that promotes recreation but also environmental education,” said Mayor Larson.   

The Duluth Stream Corps team is also planning a group tree planting later today at 5:30 PM with volunteers in Hartley Park. Interested individuals can meet at 5:15 pm in the Hartley Park main parking lot to receive instructions. Supplies will be provided but volunteers should dress for weather and wear working shoes.

The revitalization of the Park forest is a critical component of the Hartley Park Mini-master Plan forest management goals. Earlier this spring, removal of invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle took place to ensure the proliferation of native vegetation that has been stifled by invasive plants for many years. Additional buckthorn spraying will take place in the coming week to prevent new growth. The replanting of new trees is even more poignant due to the loss of hundreds of trees from the July windstorm.

Hartley Park is slowly recovering from the summer storm. Currently, Hartley Park continues to be closed with the exception of the Hartley Nature Center. The challenging work of clearing Hartley Park ski trail continues but the City anticipates reopening Hartley Park in the next two weeks, pending progress. Mountain biking trails have been cleared thanks to the volunteer efforts of Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee.        


The Duluth Stream Corps team will be planting 3500 tree varietals (Cedar, Black Spruce, Tamarack, and Balsam Fir) in Hartley Park along Tischer Creek and Old Hartley Road over the next couple of weeks. This planting is made possible thanks to a grant from Canadian National EcoConnexions From the Ground Up program, administered in the United States by America in Bloom. Subsequently, a celebration of the tree planting will take place with CN officials and America in Bloom on October 12, 2016 at 2 PM in Hartley Park. That event is open to the public with a short presentation and refreshments.     

Learn more about Duluth Stream Corps at, http://www.communityactionduluth.org/streamcorps/index.html

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