MPR: Red Lake Nation plans to reforest 50K acres on reservation

Thursday, August 25, 2011  

"The Red Lake Band of Ojibwe is gearing up to reforest 50,000 acres of tribal land.

Red Lake was once a sea of red and white pine forest stretching across the reservation. But tribal officials say the federal government mismanaged the forest starting in the early 1900s. The pine trees were cut down and never successfully replanted.

Red Lake sued the federal government and won a $53 million settlement in 2001. The tribe is using that money to grow its own pine seedlings.

At the two-year-old Red Lake Forest Development Center, a greenhouse holds the nursery's first big crop of pine trees — more than a 250,000 seedlings that will be planted next year. "

Get the Story:
Red Lake Band to reforest 50,000 acres (Minnesota Public Radio 8/24)