People kneeling and standing waving at the camera.

A gravel bed tree nursery, also known as community tree nursery, is an irrigated bed of small rocks that stores bare-root trees for later planting. Using a gravel bed drastically increases the survival rate of young trees, which are planted in a foot of gravel in the springtime, irrigated during the summer, and then planted in the fall.

Becca Hanson served with Mississippi Park Connection as the Community Forestry Corps (CFC) Member and Rennie Gaither is serving at Frogtown Green as their CFC Member.

How did you get involved in Community Forestry Corps (CFC)?

Becca holds a bare-root tree and looks at camera.

Becca: CFC is a brand new AmeriCorps program that just started last fall. CFC’s mission revolves around strengthening urban forest communities and preserving forest canopy in Minnesota. There are over 15 different organizations throughout the state that host CFC members for a year of service. CFC members can complete a wide variety of projects during this time ranging from conducting city-wide tree inventories to organizing community tree planting events and much more (spoiler alert: gravel beds)! I was immediately drawn to the idea of working outdoors alongside members of my community to enhance our local forests and green spaces.

Rennie stands holding a shovel with greenery in the background.

Rennie: I first learned about the new AmeriCorps Community Forestry Corps opportunity in the summer of 2020. I was enrolled at Indiana University in its doctoral program in higher education. In the fall semester of 2019, I was excited to work as a teaching assistant. However, over the winter break I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I worried about walking to classes. Breathing was difficult, even after taking 50 steps. So, I elected to take classes online in Minnesota. I eagerly wanted to take a qualitative research course in person that spring, but instead, opted to take other courses, given my health situation.

Even though the fall teaching had ended, my teaching stipend depended upon in-person attendance at weekly meetings with peer TAs. Consequently, I lost my stipend after the spring semester. I needed to find work. An ad appeared on my Facebook feed depicting a young woman with a shovel in her hand announcing a new AmeriCorps program. I had zero experience or education in the area of natural resources. I could identify a handful of native Midwest trees clad with leaves on a summer day. And I enjoyed hiking, biking, and exploring the outdoors. So, I took a chance, filled out the online application, and within a day or two received a call to interview with Patricia Ohmans, the director of the community organization Frogtown Green.

What are you hoping to do with the trees that are planted at the Gravel Bed Tree Nursery at the Science Museum of Minnesota?

Becca: Gravel beds serve as an integral part to restoration efforts by creating a cost-effective way to store and grow trees, even in an urban environment! The bed at the Science Museum currently houses almost 1,000 trees that will go on to be planted in various locations across the metro area. This gravel bed is also unique in that it acts not only as a space to grow trees, but also as an exhibit. Visitors of the museum can observe the bed from an eagle’s eye perspective up on the observation deck while learning more about gravel beds, trees, and ongoing conservation efforts from informational signs. I’m so excited to see how the community responds to watching these trees grow up and move to their forever homes as the year continues! Right now our young trees are just beginning their journeys, and I am so glad that people will be able to see these little saplings evolve to become a part of our local canopy.

Lots of bare-root trees planted in a gravel bed nursery at the Science Museum.

Rennie: My primary responsibility at Frogtown Green has been to organize tree planting teams in Frogtown, Summit University, and Hamline Midway neighborhoods in Saint Paul. Frogtown Green secured 2 years of grant funding from the U.S. Forest Service to purchase 50 bareroot trees to be evenly divided between the Summit University and Hamline Midway teams. The grant stipulated that these trees must be planted within the neighborhoods, where the city identified as having some of the lowest tree canopy in Saint Paul.

The Hamline Midway team grew out of discussions I held with the Hamline Midway District Council’s Environment Committee. I reached out to the committee’s chair, Sarah Wolbert, and she invited me to present a plan to solicit the committee’s input on participation. They agreed to take on the task, and I assumed an advisory role.

The Environment Committee elected to host their allotment of trees at the Science Museum nursery. This was due to the committee’s inability to find funding for gravel bed construction in Hamline Midway before the trees arrived in early summer.

Currently, teams in all three neighborhoods are in the process of finding residents who would like trees planted on their property free of charge, as well as possibly planting boulevard trees in partnership with the blessing of the city’s forestry department. For the Hamline Midway Environment Committee, their allotment of trees planted at the Science Museum gravel bed nursery will find lasting homes in that community, which over time helps mitigate urban heat island effects and increases environmental equity in Saint Paul.

How many partners have worked on the bed?

Becca saws a piece a wood while another person measures other pieces of wood.

Becca: This gravel bed truly was a collaborative effort and we were able to partner with so many cool organizations and learned so much from amazing individuals along the way! The Science Museum provided unwavering support and resources to make sure this bed got built; I found myself learning more about the world of exhibit design, not just gravel bed design, which was a topic wholly unfamiliar to me. Lower Phalen Creek Project also connected with us to graciously share the Dakota or Anishinaabe names for some of the tree species housed in the gravel beds. We were able to display these names on exhibit signs along with Indigenous perspectives of environmental conservation. And of course, last but not least, the bed itself was built by fellow CFC members including the one and only Rennie!

Rennie and I are both currently serving as CFC members. Most of the time, we are both working in different areas - Rennie in Frogtown and myself along the Mississippi River. However, we were able to join together for this gravel bed project after Rennie connected me to the Hamline-Midway Environmental Committee that had bareroot trees in need of a gravel bed home! The Science Museum provided the perfect location for us to meet in the middle and mesh our two focuses together: urban areas and natural areas. That’s why this bed means so much to us; it’s bridging the gap between urban forestry and natural resources. Trees in this bed are not just going to be in our community's parks, but also in our community’s yards. Folks will be able to enjoy these trees in multiple ways at multiple locations and that is so special!

Where else are you planting trees?

The Canopy Connectors team at Unity Church Unitarian after hours of hard work planting trees spreading gravel.

Rennie: We will be planting trees throughout the Frogtown neighborhood. Frogtown Green’s tree-planting team is dubbed the “Tree Frogs,” and they and I will be hard at work publicizing Frogtown Green’s tree-planting operations over the summer. Residents will have five variety choices: London planetree, Japanese tree lilac, Ironwood, Patten pear, and Rainer sweet cherry. The planting should take us a weekend to complete in early October.

Our grant contract with the U.S. Forest Service requires us to plant several trees outside of residential locations, which means I’ll probably be contacting businesses, churches, and possibly local schools. Who knows, maybe a fire station? Urban heat islands aren’t choosy.

This year, I’ve also helped organize a tree planting team dubbed the Canopy Connectors at Unity Church Unitarian located in the Summit University neighborhood in St. Paul. The Canopy Connectors hope to plant their allotment of 25 trees on private residences throughout the area, which includes the Rondo neighborhood, once the center of the African American community in the Twin Cities. Over 500 families in this historic neighborhood were displaced by the construction of the I-94 freeway between 1956 and 1968.

One of their team members, Lisa Burke, and I participated in the Mississippi Park Connection’s construction of the large gravel bed at the Science Museum. The build expanded our knowledge of gravel bed construction and vastly honed our carpentry skills, as well. The Canopy Connectors are a promising, enthusiastic team with aspirations to expand the number of trees they hope to plant in the coming years. And I wish them all the best.

Why is urban forestry important to people who live in Saint Paul?

Rennie: Urban forestry is supremely important for Saint Paul residents. Given the devastation of ongoing emerald ash borer infestation and subsequent tree loss throughout the Twin Cities, residents are clamoring for viable responses. Urban foresters not only play a role in reforesting lost trees, but act as purveyors of knowledge for individual and community responses. More importantly, urban forestry plays a major role in helping to center and manage environmental equity. Trees have tremendous environmental benefits, and urban forestry seeks to improve and maintain those benefits through planning, careful management, and professional oversight.

Frogtown, the community in which I serve, has the lowest tree canopy in Saint Paul. EAB infestation only aggravates that statistic. Urban forestry is important to Saint Paul residents essentially because foresters grow and plant more trees. More trees mean greater community benefits. As with any community, Frogtown residents rely on trees to reduce carbon and other harmful particulates in the air. Trees reduce rainwater runoff. They provide shade that provides sheer comfort and lowers economic costs. Trees provide animal habitat and improve the soil. Urban forestry is uniquely positioned to understand and respond to changes in urban environments.

Saint Paul relies on its forestry workers to respond to how warming associated with climate change affects our urban environment. Which is tied to our health, food production, and economy. Urban forestry is important in myriad ways, some even emerging as climate change becomes more important in our everyday lives.

Anything else fun that you want people to hear about?

Becca: Keep an eye out for volunteer opportunities in the fall when we will be planting the trees from this gravel bed! Check out parkconnection.org/volunteer to learn more! Get involved with events and projects at Lower Phalen Creek too! Check out their website to see what this lovely partner of ours is up to!

Rennie holds down a piece of wood as another person works on it.

Rennie: The Lily Pad and Monarch City. Interestingly, both projects radiate out from the hyperlocal to other Twin Cities communities in interesting ways. Both create possibilities in varying degrees. And both embed themselves organically in the community. Frogtown Green helps manage both projects. I say “manage” in the sense of partnering with and for community members.

The Lily Pad, a community garden located at 625 Dale St N. in Saint Paul, has served Frogtown residents for more than a decade. Patricia Ohmans, partnering with other community members, is working to transform the space into an environmental learning commons. She’s working on what she calls the “Lily Pad Agenda,” a report outlining hyperlocal sustainability strategies. The Agenda aims to create a strategic blueprint that other neighborhoods might ultimately adopt or adapt to specific community needs. Plans are currently underway at the Lily Pad for construction of a rain harvesting demonstration platform, raingarden, and yard waste composting bins. Educating the community to build awareness and ignite agency—this is the Lily Pad Agenda’s primary goal. Hopefully, policy change will follow.

Monarch City is another community-led, Frogtown Green-assisted initiative. Frogtown resident, Paul Nelson, came up with the idea for this native prairie wildflower garden. Nelson, a retired lawyer, local historian, and wildflower enthusiast, wanted to plant wildflowers in Frogtown to help pollinators thrive and to showcase flora that are often off the radar for all but the most knowledgeable gardeners. I’m excited about a database I created for the public to see what’s on tap at the garden that winds along the perimeter of the West Minnehaha Recreation Center. I’ve been updating as new plants arrive. I recently created a page highlighting some Monarch City early bloomers. I hope these and other such projects tune people into prairie stewardship and pollinator-friendly gardening.

Community Forestry Corps Members work together to plant trees across Saint Paul