GRAND FORKS COUNTY, N.D. Foot by foot, row by row, miles of trees are going into the ground this spring in Grand Forks County.
During May 2023 the Grand Forks County Soil Conservation District will plant 20 miles of shelterbelts for landowners. The Grand Forks County SCD is one of nearly 3,000 across the United States that works with landowners on conservation projects, including planting windbreaks.
This year’s tree planting season will be one of the busiest the Grand Forks County Soil Conservation District has had in more than 10 years, said Josh Moe, Grand Forks County SCD tree program manager. Typically, the conservation district plants about 13 miles of trees in the county.
Dust storms in spring and early summer 2022 highlighted to landowners the importance of planting trees to conserve the soil, Moe said. Meanwhile, cost share programs are available to help defray the cost of removing existing shelterbelts and replanting them.
Many of the windbreaks in Grand Forks County were planted in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1937, during the Dust Bowl, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt recommended that all U.S. governors sign into law the Standard State Soil Conservation Districts Act.
Miles and miles of shelterbelts were planted in Grand Forks County and in the 1940s the area around Larimore, North Dakota, in western Grand Forks County became known as “The Shelterbelt Capital of the World.”
The soil conservation districts, also called in other states as soil and water conservation districts, resource conservation districts, natural resource districts and land conservation committees, coordinate assistance from available sources to develop locally driven solutions to natural resources concerns, according to the National Association of Conservation Districts web site.
As Grand Forks County tree program manager, Moe works with landowners to design functional windbreaks.
“Just planting trees around a house or field doesn't mean they will be functional,” Moe said. “There is some science that goes into it for effective tree plantings.”
For example, it’s important that landowners have their soil tested before trees are planted.
“Then you can start to key in on what types of trees will grow best on that site,” he said.
During May, Moe, Nathan Rokke, Grand Forks County Soil Conservation District technician and temporary workers plant trees in windbreaks, for wildlife habitat and around farmsteads and new housing developments.
It costs landowners $0.50 per tree beyond the cost of the tree if the SCD machine plants them. The Grand Forks County Soil Conservation District has available nearly 70 varieties of deciduous trees, evergreens, fruit trees and shrubs from which landowners can choose.
The trees are planted with a mechanical planter pulled by a tractor. Two people sit in chairs on the planter and drop the trees, which are stored in plastic containers, through a chute into the soil. Another worker walks behind the planter and tamps down the ground around the trees.
On a mid-May morning, the Grand Forks County Soil Conservation District tree crew was replacing a windbreak for a landowner northwest of Grand Forks.
Moe steered the tractor down marked-out and measured rows in a field as Rokke and David Grubb, seated on the planter, planted cottonwoods, and Bill Knipe, walked behind and tamped down the soil around the trees.
Grubb and Knipe were hired as temporary employees for tree planting.
Knipe is glad for an opportunity to work outdoors.
“Nice to get outside at this time of year,” he said.
For Grubb, who enjoys working, planting trees is a way to stay occupied.
“I retired from the Air Force and I retired from the Department of Corrections fill in something to stay busy,” Grubb said.
Tree planting, similar to crop planting, this spring was delayed by a slow snow melt and cold temperatures. That will result in the tree planting crew working long hours, sometimes as many as 13 a day.
“We try to have all the trees in by the end of May, typically,” Moe said. “We do a lot of the planting, but we also sell trees to customers for them to plant.”
The cost of a tree typically is $2 and the fabric to cover the ground around them to prevent weeds from growing is $0.55 per foot.
For nformation about tree planting programs, contact Moe or Rokke at the Grand Forks County Soil Conservation District office: Phone (701) 772-2321 or check out the website at https://gfscd.org/