New Albin Elementary School students plant hundreds of trees in Mississippi River floodplain

Wednesday, November 5  a spirited and determined group of Eastern Allamakee Community Schools (EACS) fifth graders planted over 500 swamp white oak saplings  on the Mississippi River floodplain north of New Albin. Thirty-two students, with help of Friends of Pool 9 (FOP9) volunteers, parents, US Fish & Wildlife Service and US Army Corps of Engineers personnel, and EACS teachers Cheryl Kuhn and Debra Masek finished the task before lunch time.

The acorns were collected from the river floodplain near Black Hawk Park and grown in the Wisconsin DNR Nursery. The seedlings will have a high level of tolerance for the floodplain environment.

Students were divided into ten groups of three (and one group of two) and adults were assigned to each group. The Students planted twenty rows of trees with about 30 trees in a row, every five feet apart.  

Friends of Pool 9 volunteer Steve Thode commented, “My group of three boys did three and a half rows, they were so fired up. They really got after it.”  

The project created an opportunity for kids to work with older members of the community as well as the agencies and do something worthwhile for the environment. It was timely in that, at the FOP9 Directors meeting Monday, November 3, personnel from International Transmission Company (ITC Midwest) donated funds to Friends of Pool 9 for tree planting projects on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge.