Just a modest goal: Plant a million trees

Chris Mickman (Mickman Bros.), John Witkowski
(City of Ham Lake), Craig Pomplyn (City of Ham Lake),
and Joe Robinson (Mickman Bros.) with some of the 2,000
larch seedlings they recently planted in Ham Lake Park.

The reforestation of our planet may just have its headquarters in Ham Lake. 

At first, you might suspect that it’s just the opposite. Mickman Brothers Garden Center also operates a gigantic Christmas wreath business. They have created more than 600,000 wreaths over the years, helping scout and church groups to raise funds for their activities. However, you needn’t worry about their making the forests disappear. The bottom branches of balsam fir trees from northern Minnesota are harvested without hurting the trees. 

Perhaps it was their dependency on these trees that led John and Chris Mickman to want to work to preserve the forests. “My brother and I have always felt that it’s important to give back to the forests and the rest of the country,” said Chris Mickman. “So in 2008 we decided that we wanted to supply the money to plant one million seedlings in the next ten years, throughout all 50 states. So far, in the last five years we have planted seedlings in 19 out of the 50 states – usually between two and ten thousand evergreen seedlings in each state.” At this point, the Mickmans have planted about 300,000 trees out of their million-tree goal.


Each year, they’ve also provided money to the DNR to plant somewhere in Minnesota. “This year,” said Chris, “We wanted to plant in our back yard at our very favorite park, Ham Lake Park.” They’ve planted 2,000 colorful larch (or tamarack) seedlings around the swamps bordering Ham Lake and 300 shade-tolerant balsam fir seedlings on the south end of the lake.

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Source: The Ham Laker June, 2013 – Volume 28, Number 5

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