This fall, park staff and Friends of Presqu'ile Park volunteers have been hard at work planting trees around the park.

Over 400 trees have been planted around the park this fall. All these trees have been grown in our tree nursery from seeds that were collected in the park. It can take up to eight years before the trees are tall enough to be planted in the park.

The biggest threats to these young trees are winter storms and White-tailed Deer. We use stakes to help provide support against the winter winds and try to plant the trees in areas sheltered away from the worst of the wind.

To protect the trees from White-tailed Deer we use fencing, cages and ice cream buckets! Young trees are the perfect snack for a hungry White-tailed Deer, and male deer also prefer young saplings to rub their antlers, marking their scent.

Over the next few years, Presqu'ile will lose thousands of trees to the invasive Emerald Ash Borer, changing the landscape of Presqu'ile for generations. Planting native trees around the park is one way we can help create forests for the future.

Along with planting new trees we also want to protect the mature and healthy trees growing in our park.

You can help protect our trees both big and small by:

• not removing bark, branches, or leaves
• removing any ropes from trees when packing up your campsite
• not hammering nails into trees