10.000 Trees The Manitou Project

The public is invited to join The Cedar Tree Institute its friends and collaborative partners in planting 10,000 Northern White Cedar trees across Northern Michigan in the summer of 2012. The white cedar has seen a 30% decline in Michigan’s forests and is regarded as a medicinal tree among the Ojibway, Potawatomi and Odawa peoples of Michigan. Its Latin name is Arbor vitae meaning “Tree of Life.” The species is essential to the integrity of this region’s native ecosystem.

There will be two distributions of these seedlings from 9:00 a.m.-noon on Saturdays at the following locations: June 30 at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Newberry and July 7, at the Fortune Lake Lutheran Camp in Crystal Falls. A suggested donation of $2 per tree will be accepted at each site and directions will be given for appropriate planting sites and protocol. A brief blessing will be offered at 10 A.M. at each distribution site.

Organizations or individuals can reserve tree seedlings prior to the distribution dates by contacting the Cedar Tree Institute via email at ctimanitouproject@gmail.com or by calling 906-228-5494. Supporting partners in this project include the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum, The Marquette Country Juvenile Court, the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, Moosewood Nature Center, regional American Indian tribes, and Upper Peninsula faith communities. For more information go to cedarTreeInstitute.org.