Bemidji's 10,000 Free Tree Seedlings Reserved Within Days of Announcement

Reforest Bemidji's entire allotment of 10,000 free native tree seedlings was fully reserved within days of its April announcement, leaving the Let's Plant Trees website marked "sold out" before most residents had heard the program existed. One pickup opportunity remains for those who missed it: Sunday, May 17, at the Sanford Center, 1111 Event Center Dr. NE, starting at 10 a.m., when any inventory not claimed by pre-order holders the previous day opens to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

The program was built around a single urgent fact: the June 21, 2025 windstorm that knocked out power to thousands across Beltrami County and downed an estimated 9 million trees in the Bemidji area. Reforest Bemidji, organized by the nonprofit Let's Plant Trees with local backing from Otter Tail Power Company and First National Bank Bemidji, is the community's most concentrated replanting push yet. Bemidji's 10,000-seedling allotment is the largest single-community commitment in Let's Plant Trees' 2026 program, which plans to distribute 50,000 native trees across seven northern Minnesota communities through early June.

"This is all about Bemidji," said Mick Nicklow, co-founder of Let's Plant Trees. Stephanie Hoff of the Otter Tail Power Co. Foundation said the project "not only helps rebuild Bemidji's tree canopy, but also brings neighbors together and creates a visible, lasting impact for generations to come." First National Bank Bemidji president Ryan Welle put it plainly: "This effort is about more than planting trees. It is about planting resilience and rebuilding the legacy of our community."

Property owners can choose from seven species, all distributed as plug seedlings, which have higher survival rates than bare-root stock: red pine, white pine, tamarack, yellow birch, white cedar, red oak, and burr oak. Each household is eligible for up to 70 seedlings. Where a seedling goes is as important as getting it in the ground. White and red pine require full sun and well-drained soil; young white pines are particularly vulnerable to deer and rabbit browse until they reach about six feet tall, and the Let's Plant Trees species guide specifically recommends bud capping or rigid mesh tree tubes for protection in heavy deer areas. Tamarack is built for the opposite conditions, thriving in bogs, wetlands, and acidic lowland soils but likely to fail on dry, upland sites. Oaks are the most site-flexible of the seven and produce acorns that support wildlife for decades.

Pre-order holders pick up Saturday, May 16, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Any seedlings not claimed Saturday roll to Sunday's walk-up. The event runs rain or shine.

Ten thousand seedlings represent a fraction of the 9 million trees the storm stripped from the landscape, but for every household planting even a dozen of them along a property line, a shoreline, or a windbreak this spring, the canopy math eventually adds up.