Madeline (left) and Finn McCormick of St. Paul were busy clearing brush and grass from around baby trees just off the Kekekabic Trail during the third annual Gunflint Green Up Saturday, May 8, 2010. They were tending to seedlings that had been planted by volunteers last year in an effort to restore the forest after the 2007 Ham Lake Fire. This year’s event brought 170 volunteers, some who live on the Gunflint Trail, some who have cabins on the Gunflint Trail, and some who live outside the county.
Madeline McCormick and her little brother Finn were about an hour and a half into their Gunflint Green Up workday Saturday, May 8, 2010. They were busy releasing trees along the Kekekabic Trail from the threat of being crowded out by faster-growing species around them. The snow that had fallen the night before was starting to melt. It was 10:45 a.m. and someone near them called out, “Is it time for lunch yet?”
The McCormick children had traveled from St. Paul with their family to help restore the Superior National Forest after the 2007 Ham Lake Fire. “We’re so excited to be here,” said their mother, Flannery Delaney, who works for the Nature Conservancy. The family has a cabin on Little Ollie Lake and planned to plant trees there the next day, a project organized by Gunflint Trail bed-and-breakfast owner Ted Young of Boundary Country Trekking.
Volunteers planted trees the first two years of the Gunflint Green Up. This year, however, about 170 people headed into burned over areas to sniff out baby trees and clip the brush and grass around them to give them a fighting chance of growing up into great big trees. They covered about 100 acres around Iron Lake Campground, the Kekekabic Trail, and Chik- Wauk.
The third annual Gunflint Green Up Friday and Saturday, May 7 and 8, 2010, brought volunteers of all ages to release young trees from undergrowth that could jeopardize their survival. Clockwise, from upper left: Bailey Higgins of White Bear Lake; Anita and Fred Rause of Duluth with Kathy Lande of the Gunflint Trail (foreground); Jim Biallas of Eagan; Bruce Kerfoot (facing the camera second from left) briefing a group of volunteers before they head up the Kekekabic Trail; Lilly Levin (left) of Excelsior and Shelby Ahrendt of Tuscarora Lodge.
“Green Up is a coming together of the Gunflint Trail Community,” said event organizer Nancy Seaton of Hungry Jack Outfitters. “Once again we woke up to snow the morning of the releasing. Once again the sun prevailed by the afternoon and it was a great day to be in the woods.”
Jim and Marie Biallas of Eagan were participating in their third Gunflint Green Up. Last year it was hot, Jim said, adding, “I’d rather have it cold than hot.” He said he was seeing a lot of moose droppings among the blackened tree stumps and fallen logs around him.
“I get so much pride out of this,” said Marie. “I love the woods.”
When teenager Bailey Higgins of White Bear Lake was asked whether she was there of her own accord or if she had been coerced, she said she went along with the idea. She had been here planting trees two years ago, so she knew a little about what she was in for. “It’s tiring,” she said. “It’s fun
tiring.”
Lilly Levin of Excelsior planted trees during the Green Up last year and wanted to come back. She loves the Gunflint Trail. Her family comes up to pick blueberries every summer. That’s one benefit of the great fire—blueberries are everywhere.
Locals got in on the action as well. Was Shelby Ahrendt of Tuscarora Lodge there because she wanted to be there or because she was supposed to be there? “A little of both,” she said.
Gunflint Trail resident Kathy Lande (final owner of Sea Island Lodge) and Anita and Fred Rause of Duluth and the Gunflint Trail enjoyed a little lunch beside the new trail across the pond from Chik-Wauk Museum (to be holding its grand opening on the Fourth of July). They were old hats at planting trees, having participated in the first two Gunflint Green Ups. Which was more fun – planting trees or releasing them? Theyall agreed: planting was more fun.
Dave Tuttle, former owner of Bearskin Lodge, insisted he was there for other reasons. “It’s the beer at the tent.”
A lot of fun happened out there in the snow with the flowering bushes in bloom and baby maple trees sporting red leaves. A lot of fun took place throughout the entire weekend, with music by the Pincushion
Warblers
and the Sivertones
drifting through the forest and a feast and the tunes of the Trail’s
End Band
wrapping things up under the Big Top at Gunflint Lodge.
Next year’s Gunflint Green Up will be the week before fishing opener. Not even the event organizers know yet whether new trees will be planted or seedlings will be released into a bright and sunny future.
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