BSU plants 80 trees to restore campus after windstorm damage

Alumni, family members and other supporters braved bitter wind, rain and sleet Monday to put 80 native trees back into the ground at Bemidji State University, a visible step in restoring a campus that was stripped by last year’s June storm. The planting included white pines, balsam firs, white cedars and white spruces, stretching from the Alumni Arch to C Wing of Oak Hall and beginning to rebuild the University in the Pines.

The campus has been recovering from a straight-line windstorm that ripped through Bemidji with estimated winds of 90 to 120 mph and carved a damage path about 10 miles wide through the city and the southern Lake Bemidji area. BSU said the storm toppled more than 200 trees on campus, while President John Hoffman said about 90% of campus buildings sustained some form of damage and more than 100 windows had to be replaced. Hoffman also said the university had already raised about $14,000 for the Lakeside Fund in the first three days after the storm. Across Beltrami County, officials and local reporting estimated about 9 million trees were destroyed, and Gov. Tim Walz declared a peacetime emergency.

BSU Alumni & Foundation said the Replant Our Roots project sold out and would bring 75 more trees to campus in spring 2026. Donor sponsorships were set at $1,000 per tree, with full donors receiving a plaque near the tree and a commemorative wooden gift. Gifts could also be directed to a maintenance fund or designated for Northwest Technical College. Foundation leaders tied the effort to the larger For the North campaign, which is seeking $25 million for student success, campus upgrades and enrollment efforts. A.J. Joseph framed the tree planting as a way for alumni to show current and future students how deeply they care about the university.

The loss was not just visual. BSU said some of the damaged trees had stood on campus longer than the school had existed as a teacher’s college in 1919, making the storm a hit to both the landscape and the institution’s memory. That is why the replanting drew so many alumni back to campus, including Bob Green, a BSU graduate from the class of 1957.

For some donors, the effort was personal. Shawn Henry, Class of 1998, said he wanted to leave the world better and repay the university that gave him lifelong friendships. Henry and others planted trees in honor of their friend Linda Penn, a 1998 graduate who died in 2020, including one placed outside her former residence hall on Birchmont Drive near Oak Hall. The trees will take years to mature, but the restoration is already changing the campus one root system at a time.