SUPERIOR, WI (KDAL) – A crew of six early career conservationists will plant 20,000 tree seedlings along shorelines and islands in the upper St. Louis River Estuary over the next two weeks beginning Monday.
This follows the removal of invasive shrub species from the wetlands this past fall.
The project is part of three years of planting led by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The effort will protect forested wetlands and wild rice restoration sites while reducing shoreline erosion as the emerald ash borer (EAB), a non-native insect, causes black ash trees to die.
Black ash trees are abundant along the St. Louis River Estuary and as they’re impacted with the EAB infestation the new seedling trees will take their place.
The trees will maintain forests for birds and wildlife and protect islands and wetlands from erosion during floods.
Tree species to be planted were selected based on their tolerance for wet or flooded soils, ability to withstand warming temperatures in the region, and the cultural uses or traditions that they support.
