Groveland, CA…(Updated…Due to popular demand and an interest in maximum availability, in addition to making trees available tomorrow and Saturday at the Groveland Ranger District the Stanislaus National Forest will have tree seedlings available to the public at the Mi-Wuk Ranger District located at 24695 Hwy 108, Mi-Wuk Village, CA 95346, next week Mon-Fri from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please call the Mi-Wuk RD front desk for more information at: (209) 586-3234.) The U.S. Forest Service, Stanislaus National Forest (STF) is donating excess seedlings to interested homeowners at the Groveland Ranger District Office tomorrow and Saturday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a first come, first served basis. Up to 50 seedlings per person along with instructions on how to plant them will be available for the specific use of reforesting private lands that may also, like the national forest, been effected by fire, drought and insect mortality (trees not available for commercial resale).

The seedlings being given away are the excess seedlings associated with a volunteer tree planting project in the Rim Fire area. Over the last Volunteers (not including contracted projects) were able to achieve the replanting more than 50K trees on the Groveland Ranger District.

Tree planting was scheduled daily February through April, with the last day occurring last week. Over an eight week period, more than 1750 volunteers, groups and individuals, from all over the states and as far away as Canada put in their personal time and energy towards helping to replant areas of the Forest affected by the Rim Fire.

Tree planting activities also included an Earth Day event with 175 local elementary school students from five different schools participating in learning about: soils, animals, fire ecology, hydrology, with tree planting as a learning station. This event had eight different partner organizations volunteering to share knowledge and experience with local youth. The “Every Kid in a Park” initiative funded transportation for the students as part of their year-long program to connect 4th grade students with public lands.

The Ponderosa Pine & Incense Cedar seedlings are being made available through a donation from the USDA Forest Service, Arbor Day Foundation and the National Forest Foundation.

The Groveland Ranger District Office is located approximately 8 miles east of Groveland on Hwy 120 at address: 24545 Hwy 120, Groveland, CA 95321. When you arrive at the compound, please follow the road signs directing the public to the “Trees.” For more information, please call (209) 962-7825.
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