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When 2017-18 RI President Ian Riseley issued a tree-planting challenge, D5950 clubs reached for their shovels. The result? The Environmental Sustainability Rotarian Action Group’s final report placed District 5950 at 2nd in North America (following a district in North Carolina) and 13th in the world for number of trees planted. D5950 Rotarians and friends planted 28,061 trees. Worldwide, 171 districts participated in the challenge, planting 4,739,607 trees.
A recent Nature Conservancy forestry update featured District 5950’s North Shore tree planting project. “Over two days in May, Rotary District 5950 volunteers planted more than 2,200 white pine and white spruce trees on the North Shore of Lake Superior near Two Harbors. White pine and white spruce were selected for planting because they are long-lived conifers that were historically abundant along this stretch of the North Shore. These species are valuable for wildlife, water quality, and carbon sequestering and storage."Rotary provided funding for another 20,000 trees that have been planted on 41 acres of Superior National Forest land, as well as 15 acres of state land in the Finland State Forest. "We thank Rotary District 5950 for the generous financial support to restore trees on the North Shore, and to the volunteers from Rotary and the Duluth office of Bank of America who participated in the demanding work of planting the trees.”