Door County Students Plant 4,250 Trees

Bob Bultman of the Forest Recovery Project (back to camera) explains the tree planting project to Sturgeon Bay High School students Friday, May 11. Teacher Craig Kiekhaefer is at right. Submitted.

Sturgeon Bay and Gibraltar High School students planted trees at a Nature Conservancy property in Ellison Bay in April and May.

Twenty members of the Gibraltar Ecology Club began the plantings April 26 – 28, followed by 40 Sturgeon Bay students May 11 in an event sponsored by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), The Forest Recovery Project (FRP) and the Climate Change Coalition of Door County (CCCDC).

In all 4,250 native trees – red and white pine, white spruce, balsam fir, northern white cedar and black cherry – are now reforesting this open tract.

The young people are students of Dave Tupa, science teacher and Ecology Club sponsor at Gibraltar High School, and Craig Kiekhaefer and Seth Wilson at Sturgeon Bay High School. Kiekhaefer teaches science, and Wilson teaches technology and engineering.

The Last Stop gas station, Bhirdo’s By the Bay, Greens N Grains, Healthy Way, Piggly Wiggly, and Wild Tomato all helped support the event with food and beverages for the planting days.

This is the third year these organizations have joined with students in planting trees, planting more than 10,000 trees in the county since 2016.