By Forrest Adams

A four-person crew from the Minnesota Conservation Corps began the random planting of 30 different varieties of trees and shrubs last Wednesday, in an effort to restore 12 acres of Minnewashta Regional Park to its hardwood forest origins.

“This land was part of an old farm field when the park was acquired in the 1970s,” said Park Coordinator Lenny Schmitz. A total of 16,000 trees, most of them saplings, were planted in the effort, the park’s first of this nature.

The planters used a tree planter machine rented from the Minnesota DNR to plant most of the saplings, which stood between 18 and 24 inches high, but they hand-planted roughly 1,500 of them. Park staff also borrowed and operated a machine from the Carver County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Schmitz said they planted between 1,300 and 1,400 plants per acre, which is very dense, and this is intended to create a natural shade that blocks sunshine from reaching grass and weeds on the ground. He contracted a company to destroy the grasses, thistles and weed growth at the site last year through the application of low-concentration chemicals.

This planting was funded by a Metro Greenways Restoration grant that the park received in 2005 through the DNR. The Arbor Day celebration at Minnewashta Park is scheduled for Saturday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to noon. Participants will have the opportunity to learn from park staff about this woodland restoration project and also to help clean up and beautify the 340-acre park before summer.

Held also on Saturday is Chanhassen’s Arbor Day celebration from 10 a.m. to noon. Beginning at 10 a.m. in the library, Master Gardeners will be available to diagnose plant problems. Jim Gilbert, local naturalist and author, will give a talk at 10:30 in the senior center, and Tricia and the Toonies will present an environmental show at 11 a.m. in the Wilder Room at the library. Kid’s activities in the Arbor Day tent include planting seeds to take home and face painting, as well as the opportunity to have their picture taken with Woodsy the Owl.