A dedicated group of folks, led by Tree Board members Cindy Kohles, Beth and Niels Jensen, and Craig Anderson, planted a tree at the Log Cabin Village Park in celebration of Arbor Day. The tree was a Chinquapin Oak, a seven-year-old seedling.

Kohles and the Tree Board went on to plant NUMBER other trees in the village.

Gathered afterwards to celebrate with cookies and apple cider, Kohles shared some facts about trees in the Village of Gays Mills.

“There are a total of 4,414 trees in the village, representing 97 species,” Kohles said. “The biggest tree in the village is a Silver Maple behind the village shop that is 62.6 inches in diameter, with the next biggest, also a Silver Maple, that is 61.5 inches in diameter.”

Kohles said the most common trees in the village are Black Walnut, White Pine and Silver Maple. She detailed that of the 4,414 trees in the village, 1,849 are in fair condition, 1,600 are in good condition, 74 are in excellent condition, and 759 are in poor condition.”

Kohles commented that one of the reason many trees in the village are struggling is due to inundation by flood waters. Another issue she brought up was challenges in reforesting the floodplain in the village.

A U.S. Fish & Wildlife employee shared, after the celebration, that her agency and the Corps of Engineers focus on planting native species in their floodplain reforestation projects such as Silver Maple, Cottonwood, Willow, Green Ash, American Elm and Swamp White Oak. The employee said that federal agencies will also sometimes focus on fostering natural regeneration of trees, so the seedbank determines what comes up.

After Kohles concluded her comments, Craig Anderson read a poem by James Broughton, 1913-1999:

Harken, fresh saplings on Easter morn!

To ensure your perennial resurrection

Affirm your faith in the miracle of green

By repeating yearly this credo of renewal

I believe unconditionally in

The one impossible truth

The two doors of perspicacity

The three windows of the unthinkable

The four corners of the brandles

The five pillars of insecurity

The six towers of pointlessness

The seven roads to the vanishing point

The eight capitals of bewilderment

The nine arenas of intrepidity

The ten palaces of impossible wisdom

Wherein are kept

The original designs for the worlds trees

The original score for all birdsong

And the master blueprint for the first

Explosion of springtime

Be true to this faith all your budding days

And ye shall branch, blossom and be leafy

To the joy of all men

As many times as there are Easters.