Oakdale celebrates 50 years of Arbor Day tree giveaways – Twin Cities

The late Pete Graske planted so many bushes throughout his time as mayor of Oakdale that he earned the moniker “Mr. Tree.”

Graske, who died in 2012 at the age of 88, was accountable for planting and caring for bushes in his metropolis’s parks and operating town’s 1.5-acre tree farm throughout his tenure as mayor of Oakdale within the mid-Nineteen Seventies. In 1975, Graske began Oakdale’s Arbor Day celebration, which contains a tree giveaway.

The occasion, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary April 26, known as the Pete Graske Arbor Day Tree Giveaway in Graske’s honor.

Annually, town offers out 200 bare-root bushes – 50 every of 4 varieties – to Oakdale residents at no cost round Arbor Day.

This 12 months, Jap White Pine, Japanese Tree Lilac, KinderKrisp Apple and River Birch bushes can be found to residents. Members should register for a pick-up time upfront; pre-registration begins at 8 a.m. April 1.

“Residents, actually, sit at their pc to be on at 8 a.m. to get the type of tree that they need,” stated Metropolis Administrator Christina Volkers.

The restrict is one tree per Oakdale deal with/family; condo addresses should not allowed.

“These are real-deal bushes,” stated Mayor Kevin Zabel. “They are often as much as 8 toes tall. They’re able to go within the floor. I at all times get a great chuckle when any person reserves a tree, after which they roll up in, like, a little bit compact automotive or one thing. It’s like, ‘The place is that going to go?’”

Oakdale: ‘There’s a tree in our identify’

The town typically spends $6,000 to $8,000 yearly on bushes for the occasion, however the quantity can fluctuate from 12 months to 12 months due to the worth and availability of the bushes. This 12 months the associated fee is $6,080, Volkers stated.

Metropolis officers, who will give away town’s 10,000th tree April 26, make bushes and tree-planting a precedence, Zabel stated. “There’s a tree in our identify, so our forest cover is essential to us,” he stated.

For 30 years, Oakdale has been designated as a “Tree Metropolis USA,” he stated, which implies a group has dedicated to managing and celebrating its public bushes by assembly the requirements of sound urban-forestry administration, as acknowledged by the Arbor Day Basis.

The Arbor Day tree giveaway is an efficient alternative for town “to keep up our tree cover as the environment adjustments,” Zabel stated.

“Simply take into consideration a few of the big-tree illnesses which have come and gone in,” prior to now 50 years, Zabel stated. “Emerald ash borer, Dutch elm illness, oak wilt. You recognize, in some unspecified time in the future or one other, these illnesses pop up and take out a giant swath of the tree cover. Doing this yearly so constantly permits us to keep up our tree cover as these illnesses come and go. It’s simply turn out to be an enormous a part of who we’re, and our residents like it.”