BEMIDJI — The Beltrami Soil and Water Conservation District quickly dispersed thousands of trees in Bemidji on Tuesday, May 26.
Nearly a year has passed since a major windstorm swept through the Bemidji and western Leech Lake areas.
People were lining up in the Lueken’s North parking lot before the dispersal of the conservation-grade trees even began.
One hour into the event, Kaylie Carver and the rest of the Beltrami SWCD were nearly cleared out, with only a handful of swamp oaks remaining.
“Right away, folks came and took a bunch of trees,” Carver said. “We started with about 3,700 trees. We had bur oak, swamp white oak, red oak and then some pecan trees that we got last minute.”
This was the second free tree event advertised so far this month, with the nonprofit Let’s Plant Trees dispersing 15,000 trees to restore Bemidji’s tree canopy.
An estimated 9 million trees came down in the June 2025 wind storm, drastically altering the local landscape.
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