Michigan milestone: 100K planted trees added to

Mi Trees map

The Michigan DNR asked you to plant trees, and Michiganders showed up: planting and registering more than 100,000 trees on the DNR’s interactive Mi Trees map since 2021.

This amazing turnout for the Mi Trees effort has helped the DNR move toward its goal of planting 50 million trees by 2030 in partnership with 1T.org, a global initiative to plant 1 trillion trees. Much of Michigan’s landscape is privately owned or in urban and community areas, making public participation an important part of the effort.

Why plant a trillion trees? Forests are important for the health of the planet and for us. From simply providing beauty to our landscapes and communities, to creating wildlife habitat, slowing climate change, providing renewable materials for everyday products and even improving mental health, trees are essential.

The Michigan DNR plants about 6 million trees a year on state forest land, with forest management practices that are certified as sustainable by two independent organizations.

If you want to join the effort, find tips to pick the right tree and plant it correctly at Michigan.gov/MiTrees. Be sure to tag them on our map to share your achievement and help us get closer to the Trillion Trees goal. 

Questions about tree planting? See our handy guide or contact DNR forestry experts Kevin Sayers, Mike Smalligan or Lawrence Sobson.

On October 6, 2020, KCD held a virtual workshop titled "Tree Planting Planting, Care & Maintenance Workshop". It can be a challenge to plant trees and have them survive in urban and rural environments. From roots to shoots, research in the area of planting and maintaining trees continues to evolve.  Steven Nikkila, former senior instructor of the Michigan School of Gardening, and Janet Mancunovich, professional gardener and author, discussed the best practices of planting and maintenance, crafted from over 60 years of combined experience. Attendees of this virtual workshop learned how to grow trees in any location, park to parking lot!

Topics included:

• Selecting the right type of tree for each site
• Soil preparation
• Planting instructions
• Watering
• Simple, most effective maintenance care
• Basic pruning techniques
• When to prune and when to hire a professional

Here are links to the information and references that Janet and Steven shared in the program.

Tree Selection

Planting Trees

Compromised Root Systems

This program was supported by the DNR, Urban and Community Forestry Program,

the USDA Forest Service, State and Private Forestry Program and ReLeaf Michigan.

For more orchard and fruit tree information, click here to be directed to our page devoted to this information. It includes the Backyard Orchard: Growing Fruit Trees at Home Webinar that was presented on October 28, 2020 along with additional references.