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Hello again friends.

I'm Jason Edens your host of Lakeland Currents.

Thanks for joining the conversation today and thanks for your ongoing support of Lakeland PBS.

Arbor Day is an annual secular observance in which we encourage people and institutions to plant trees.

It was first formally observed in 1594 in Spain and is now observed throughout the world.

The first national Arbor Day in the United States was in 1872 which means that this year marks the 150th anniversary.

It is therefore my privilege to welcome my guest today.

Candace Zimmerman is the executive director of the Northland Arboretum which is based right here in Brainerd and will be marking the 150th anniversary with a series of events.

Candace, welcome to the program.

Thanks for making time for our conversation.

Thanks for having me.

Well, first of all before we talk about Arbor Day and the events that you'll be hosting, let's sort of zoom out and learn a little bit more about the arboretum in general.

So what's its origin story?

Yeah, so the Northland Arboretum started out, well before it was an arboretum, it started out as the Brainerd landfill.

So that 40 acre parcel that our visitor center currently sits on used to be just rubble and it's kind of a great trash to treasure story, so to speak, where the Brainerd community rallied behind this land and made it something amazing and one of the founders Rudy Hillig was a huge part of that success and kind of built it from the ground up.

Interesting.

So when did that transition from trash to treasure, as you say, take place?

What year was that?

Yeah, so, we became an official non-profit in 1974.

So we're coming up on our 50th anniversary as well.

So we had, what it did what we did is we kind of built over that landfill.

The community decided to build a trail system and then everything kind of fell into place after that.

It evolved into bigger programming, conservation efforts, the visitor center was built in the early 2000's.

So now we are looking ahead with our new strategic plan on how can we build those pillars of education and conservation and recreation and provide even more service to the community.

So this was really a grassroots initiative.

It was really community-led then it wasn't necessarily the city that decided to do this but rather citizens that decided to do this?

Correct.

Yeah, it's an amazing effort when you get a group of like-minded individuals together, what they can truly accomplish.

It's amazing.

Absolutely.

Here, so what exactly is the mission of the organization.

Yeah, so our mission is to really grow those three pillars that I mentioned, so education, conservation, and recreation; and we want to be a community asset, so when members come in, we are a member and supported non-profit organization and when they come in as new members, we like to share that this is now your arboretum, this is yours to use and to share with your family, and really what we're doing is building good stewards of the planet through our educational programming as well, so get those people connected with nature and hopefully the rest will follow suit.

Well, although we want to talk a lot about National Arbor Day, can you tell us about some of the other events that you host at the arboretum, or groups that use the arboretum, and how it's used?

Absolutely, on the recreation side of things we have a 12 mile trail system so in the summer time people use it for hiking, for just walking, for just browsing around our gardens.

Then in the winter time, we partner with the Brainerd Nordic Ski Club and they groom those trails for us, impeccably.

They keep them in really fine shape so we have a great trail system for those cross country skiers and then we have a separate route for snowshoers and walkers in the winter time as well.

Is it groomed for both nordic and skate skiing?

Yes, it is and I've heard that they're great trails for an intermediate skier and a beginner or novice skier as well.

So 12 miles is almost half of a marathon, Do you host half marathons there as well?

We used to and we are looking forward to to developing more events around recreation so more to come on that.

Okay, well, how do you pay for all this important and great work at the arboretum?

We have very amazing donors, sponsors, and some interesting revenue streams as a non-profit so part of our contributions come from the City of Brainerd as operational funding so we can keep the lights on so to speak.

Then donations from our membership, our membership fees help us as well and then we do rent out our building and facilities so that people can have events there, such as weddings and graduation parties.

It's just an amazing background, having that natural background as a part of your party or celebration.

So weddings, events, retirement parties, that type of thing?

Yes, all of it.

Isn't there also a user fee?

For example, if I want to go skiing isn't there also a per day user fee or something to that effect?

We do have a $5.00 user fee for non-members.

If you're a member of the arboretum, you get free gate access, which is a really great benefit.

In the winter time, skiers are able to ski the trail system with a DNR ski pass because they are sponsored by a Grant in Aid program, and then there's just that small parking fee to take care of, so it's really an affordable way to get outdoors in every season throughout the year.

So if I want to be a member, how much does it cost?

the lowest you, as an individual, is going to pay is $30.

Then we have a program for a dual membership, which is $40, and just $50 for a family.

You can even tack your dog onto your membership for an additional $5.00.

Oh, nice, so it's a dog friendly place?

It is very much a dog friendly fantasy place.

We see dogs there all the time.

How many cities the size of Brainerd have their own dedicated arboretum like this?

You know what, I don't know, but very few.

I think that the arboretum and where it's situated right in the center of the city is just an amazing asset, and we like to call ourselves "The Central Park" of the Brainerd Lakes area and having 420 acres just smack dab in the middle is an amazing and convenient location for people.

We're going to be sticking around for a while and providing that service to everyone.

It is such an amazing transition to convert what would have been a liability, right?

the closed landfill, to an arboretum, that's just a remarkable story.

What type of management, though, is required with being on a closed landfill like that?

Do you have partnerships with, for example, The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, or how does that all work?

Yes, so the arboretum is owned by three(3) different entities.

Part of our land is owned by the Northland Arboretum itself, and we lease some of our acreage from Crow Wing County and then part of the land is owned by The Nature Conservancy.

Having partners like The Nature Conservancy at our table is that they understand what the best land management practices look like so they help us maintain those very rare habitats that are on our land and provide us with guidance and land management plans so that future generations are going to be able to enjoy this space.

So those, you mentioned all these different funding streams, right?

What percentage is the city's support among those different funding streams?

The City of Brainerd provides support through a mill levy, and it's about 25% of our funding, and like I said, it generally helps out the operational side of things; helping keep the lights on, as well as having amazing staff available to provide capacity for us.

And your facility is partially powered by renewables, isn't it?

Don't you have an on-site solar energy system?

We do have solar panels on our building, yes.

Those were put in, I believe, a little over 10 years ago and we're looking forward to making some improvements to that system as well.

Nice.

Well, why is National Arbor Day important?

Yes, it's kind of like the arboretum's birthday, so to speak, so we looked at this event a couple years ago when I first got here, I'm on my 2-year anniversary here this week with the Northland Arboretum.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

We saw Arbor Day as an opportunity to really connect with the community.

This is a free event where we partner with many other organizations within our field and say "Hey, everybody, just get outdoors!"

because that's the point of this day, is to celebrate Spring, celebrate the warm weather, and get everybody connected again.

Our partners at the table include our master gardeners and our master naturalists, who are amazing volunteers for us, and then outside of that, we have people like the Soil and Water Conservation District that help.

Our major sponsors at the table are Cuyuna Regional Medical Center, Essentia, and Mike's Tree Service.

Again, very nature focused, very much about health and getting outdoors.

There's a lot of people at the table to make this event happen so we're excited to provide it.

And when is it?

We are coming up on the calendar on April 30th, and we are kicking off the event with a fun hike at 10 o'clock in the morning and then our booths and activities are available until 2 p.m in the afternoon.

And who's going to be there?

We have, like I mentioned, our master naturalists and master gardeners are all both going to have booths.

We're going to have a petting zoo available, which will be really fun, have some animals out there.

We're going to have Happy Dancing Turtle helping us with a scavenger hunt and then Smiles For Jake, and some other organizations and non-profits are going to be helping us out as well.

Then hopefully, we'll have some fun people at the start of our hike pumping us up and getting us ready for that fun hike.

So lots going to be going on, we're going to have an insert in the Brainerd Dispatch Wrap that will have the map and all of the activities outlined for people.

Is there going to be any tree planting?

Yes, actually, we are going to have a tree planting ceremony.

One of the aspects to to the event that we really wanted to provide was that tree planting component.

We're taking memorial trees that we have registered over the last year and we're going to be planting those trees during that ceremony with the help of the Brainerd mayor and the Baxter mayor.

Fantastic!

What's a "Memorial Tree?"

Our memorial trees are a part of our "Living Tribute" program so what that means is that people who have lost a loved one or want to honor a loved one, plant a tree, because it's just a great feeling of hope and continuing that life for future generations.

So people who reach out to the arboretum purchase the tree, we continue to manage it, and then we provide a plaque in remembrance of that person or in honor of that person.

Oh, that's remarkable.

Right now we have three (3) memorial trees that we will be planting.

We're hoping to get 5 or 6 to be planted that day, so if anyone out there has a loved one that they would like to honor on Arbor Day, please give us a call over at the Arboretum.

So the service is basically if someone has lost a loved one they can contact the Northland Arboretum and you will select a tree and then, as part of National Arbor Day it will be planted somewhere on the arboretum itself?

Yes, we try to be strategic on what trees we purchase as well as where they are planted.

This specific ceremony will be focused around maple trees, which are bright and vibrant and just provide a little bit of color during the fall season.

We thought it would be very fitting and it also provides an educational component as well because we're providing different species of maple trees, which will provide a little bit of an educational component for visitors as well as that "pop of color" right when you walk into the arboretum.

I'm sure.

Now, this is a "fee for service" correct?

people have to pay for this?

Yes, so it is a $500 fee for a memorial tree, and we do have other memorial options available and those can be viewed on our website.

Okay, fantastic.

Now you mentioned some of the volunteer groups that will be exhibiting on National Arbor Day on the 30th of April.

Are you also looking for volunteers in general, and if so, in what capacity?

Yes, we have amazing volunteers, we have a volunteer base of core 50 or 60 volunteers that are regular visitors to the Arboretum and they're really the kind of foundation for maintaining the grounds.

We have master gardeners who help out in the gardens, we have master naturalists that help instruct some of our education and nature-based classes, we also have volunteers that help us with Reception at the front desk answering phones and those kinds of things.

So for someone that's very nature focused and it's just in their heart and soul that they want to give back to nature, the arboretum is a great opportunity to do that regardless of your skill level or how many hours you might have during the week to contribute, You just mentioned these classes, what classes and who teaches them, when are they offered?

Our education curriculum is really diverse; we have instructors that have been with us a while and then instructors that just say "Hey, I know a little bit about birds, what can I do for you guys?"

It's a great opportunity for someone to share their knowledge about something that's nature focused and those classes range from adult classes to children's classes.

We actually have a Summer Nature Camp that we are planning for this coming summer.

We're going to do Thursdays from 8 am to 3 pm.

Parents can drop off their children and then the entire day is going to be very focused on the outdoors, getting them connected with nature and learning a little bit about various topics.

That's fantastic!

Do you partner with public schools elsewhere in the community?

Are there other relationships with the school districts?

We do.

Right now, my green core member, his name is Nick Bachmann, is working on touching base with the elementary schools in the district and really getting in touch with the teachers and what works for their curriculums.

For example, we had Discovery Woods out a couple weeks ago doing one of our field trip topics and they got to learn about scat, scat and tracks, which was really fun for the kids because they got to go out on the trail system in the snow trying to find tracks and then our instructor, who happened to be a master naturalist, was teaching them along the way, such as, Could it be a rabbit or a squirrel or other possibilities.

It really is interesting to see what those critical thinking skills are, and how they develop in our kids when we're teaching them about nature.

So for those viewers who may not be familiar with the "green core" program can you just briefly talk about that program at the MPCA?

Yes.

The Minnesota Green Core Program provides individuals to host organizations to just provide a little bit of capacity so Nick is specifically with us in order to build up our education curriculum.

His background is more in soil and water quality, so he builds in that knowledge into the curriculum that he's building.

He's with us for a full year and hopefully we'll just take our curriculum to the next level as we kind of move forward with our strategic plan.

So when people come to National Arbor Day at Northland Arboretum on the 30th of April, can they take trees home with them, is it possible to get trees?

Yes, that's a great question.

We're actually having a tree sapling giveaway which will be at the Northland Arboretum's booth and then the master naturalists who will be right next to us in their booth are going to explain what that tree - what the identification of that tree is; how to plant it, what it's going to look like when it's when it's grown.

Again, its that education component that we can provide to people.

Not only that, they can browse around our grounds that day as well and just see the variety of trees that are available to us in this zone that will thrive and be beautiful on their own properties.

So, when it was a landfill, there weren't any trees?

It's my understanding that not many of those trees existed at that time.

So who planted those trees, was that an intentional effort or was that more part of the natural succession or how did, how did that go?

I think part of it was a natural succession, and part of it was the founder's vision of what he wanted the arboretum to be.

There's still pockets of plantings that Rudy himself did and I think it's interesting to see what happened as directors took over and our volunteer groups helped out, what their contributions were to this full 420 acres.

It's almost a historical timeline of the arboretum and everybody's contributions to it, which is, when you think about it, it's a beautiful thing.

You've mentioned some volunteer opportunities and the fact that you have upwards of 50 consistent volunteers.

I noticed on your website that you have, what is it, 7 or 8 board members, are they volunteer board members?

They are volunteer board members, yes.

We have a board of eight (8) people right now.

We can have a board of 15.

So if anyone is interested, or is a nature lover, and really wants to give back in a green way to the community, they should contact the arboretum or myself and I will provide details around that.

Our board is made up of, a retired forester is on our board.

we have a marketing professional, we have business people, it's a diverse board of professionals that has allowed us to again complete a strategic plan and get us really focused for the future.

We're excited, coming up on our 50th anniversary.

There's a lot to do but it's all great stuff that we're providing to the community.

What's the term of commitment, if someone were interested in joining the board and reaching out and contacting you what type of commitment would they be looking at?

Ideally, it would be a three-year term and our officers have a turnover every year so we would love to see somebody come on, and it takes a little bit to get into the swing of things, and stay on and be able to provide their professional input for a significant amount of time, whether that's 3 years or 10 years.

We only meet as a board about every month so it's not a huge time commitment.

I would say as long as you're dedicated to the mission of the arboretum, which is really just getting people connected with nature, then it's a good spot for you.

So I want to talk a little bit about Best Practices for Tree Planting.

There are a lot of very ambitious tree planting initiatives throughout the world frankly, and of course, in our region we want them to not only be well intentioned but also successful.

My understanding is that the mantra for tree planting is - "the right tree in the right place at the right time."

Right, So how do you educate people that are going to be participating in this event, or just generally, about Best Practices for Tree Planting?

Yes, that's a great question and I'm not a forester by any means so I would suggest anybody looking to plant a large amount of trees should contact their local either "Soil and Water" or the NRCS and get some information about that.

There's also opportunities to be partnered with a forester through the DNR and then create forestry plans so that your property can move forward in the best way possible.

But if you were to ask my board, my board chair, right now, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

Always think about giving back, and planting trees, as much as you can within your own property within reason , and check your soil make sure it's a good tree for your area and planting a tree is always a good decision.

Indeed.

So temperatures have been recorded in Minnesota for more than a hundred years, we're going on 130 years now, especially in some of our wildlife management areas, and over the course of that century plus, there's been a five degree fahrenheit increase of annual temperatures, so I'm wondering if there are any conversations at the Northland Arboretum about how we plant trees for the future , because obviously by planting trees, we're very much thinking about the next generation.

But with the climate changing, how do we know what is the most appropriate tree to plant?

I understand you're not a forester but I'm wondering if there are any conversations about how climate change may affect the Northland Arboretum.

Yes, you're right on point there, is that there needs to be a good plan in place for climate change and it's interesting, because I just had this conversation with one of our nature conservancy partners earlier this week about this.

Asking them what's our diversity plan, what is our current plan, and does it need to change, knowing that we have this data in front of us and it's really going to take some observation of what the trees in the arboretum are currently going through, if there are any diseases that we need to worry about, some of the conversation that I've had with my master naturalist volunteers is Oak Wilt, and what that might do to the diversity of the arboretum so it's really going to be looking at, and trying to look ahead.

I mean, nobody has a crystal ball, but to plant in the best way possible and provide as a diverse area as we can back there and really respect the habitat that's existing right now.

One of those habitats I'm talking about is our Jack Pine Savannah, which is mostly on the nature conservancy side but we talked about, well, what does that look like for the Jack Pine Savannah?

This evolution of climate change and these increase in temperatures, what does that look like?

As we talk more with our partners, we're hoping to have a more solid plan here in the next couple years.

Speaking of habitat, what type of flora and fauna are you seeing on the arboretum because of this unique island of preservation right here in this urban environment?

Are you seeing any unique species, birds, what can you share with us?

Yes, the arboretum itself is an important birding area so I think that it's interesting to see the bluebird population, for example.

We can hopefully observe a little bit in a unique setting that the arboretum is, versus a backyard, so we're hoping to see an increase of that bluebird population hopefully, going forward.

As far as plants, we do have a rare lady slipper growth happening by our pond so not everybody can see that pink lady slipper in their backyard, it needs a very unique environment in order to grow and thrive and we're lucky to have that, so anyone interested in seeing those unique plants should contact our front desk and we can provide an opportunity or at least a range of a time frame that those might be available.

For the lady slipper, it's usually towards the end of June, depending on what the temperatures look like, but yes, those are very exciting opportunities that we get to share with our visitors and with our membership.

Again, a piece of property like that just needs to be taken care of and protected.

So for our viewers who are maybe listening to this conversation in different parts of northern Minnesota, if they can't participate in your event, in what way can they be a part of National Arbor Day?

I would suggest reaching out to the Arbor Day Foundation website and seeing the opportunities that might be available in their area.

Beyond that, we talked about planting trees, it's always a great idea to plant trees or just celebrating that Earth Day, which is a week before, by picking up trash.

Spring is always one of those times after the snow melt where trash just seems to accumulate after the snow is gone, so please pick up road ditches, properties, we'll be doing an Earth Day cleanup ourselves here at the Northland Arboretum so I just encourage you to, if you're going to celebrate Arbor Day or Earth Day, is to get outside and see what we can do for the planet.

So you're commemorating your second year anniversary as the Director of the Northland Arboretum, what's your vision for the next 10 years or thereabouts as the director?

I really want to get the arboretum - or get more people aware of what we do.

I think many people know us for the events that we do, such as our haunted trail, which is a really fun one, or hosting Winter Wonderland for the Sertoma Club, but I want people to realize how important the actual land is to to the community and how important connecting to nature is for the physical and mental health of the community.

Hopefully in the next 10 years we'll see more and more visitors and more and more membership supporting that mission.

well Candice, thank you so much for making time for our conversation and more importantly, thank you for the work that you do on behalf of our community.

Thank you for having me.

Thank all of you for joining me once again.

You can continue the conversation on twitter.

Tweet me at currentspbs.

I'm Jason Edens, your host of Lakeland Currents.

Be kind and be well.

We'll see you next week.