Cheboygan Conservation District

05/13/2026

Extra trees are available at the Cheboygan County Fairgrounds, building #9 from 10AM to 4PM today!

All apple trees and fruits are 50% and all other seedlings are 65% off!

Stop by and get yours!

05/04/2026

📣🌲🌿🍎📣

Attention all Tip-of-the-Mitt tree planters! Stop by the Fairgrounds Monday and Tuesday from 9AM-4PM to shop EXTRA TREES from our Spring Tree Sale Fundraiser!

We have lots of extra apple trees, plus a selection on native conifers, deciduous trees, and shrubs!

04/20/2026

🌱💧 UPDATE: Due to the dam-related activity in and around the Fairgrounds, we have delayed our pick-up days until May 1st, 10AM - 4PM and May 2nd, 9AM - 11AM.

We will continue accepting orders until April 23rd!

Tree Sale Store:

Welcome to the 2026 Spring Tree Sale! Shop Shop Download PDF Catalog Download PDF Catalog Download PDF Order Form Download PDF Order Form Thank you for supporting conservation in Cheboygan County and for planting trees! What is deer browse protection, and why does it matter? White-tailed deer are a....

04/16/2026

This week, rather than a Forester Friday post, it's a Thirsty Thursday post! And who's thirsty? These floodplain-loving trees!

Today and tomorrow are the last two days to place orders for our Spring Tree Sale Fundraiser! If your floodplain needs to be beefed up with some more trees and shrubs, we've got you covered!

Northern Michigan is being put through the wringer right now. Unlike our homes and roads, there are trees that are well-adapted to late winter/early spring flooding. Many floodplain-adapted species do not necessarily like growing in spots that are permanently wet, but can tolerate even being completely submerged while dormant. Well vegetated floodplains can help slow water and minimize soil erosion.

Many of the trees featured in these pictures are great examples of this, and are available from our tree sale! Conifers that can tolerate temporary flooding include white-cedar, balsam fir, and white spruce. Deciduous trees and shrubs tolerant of flooding in these pictures include swamp white oak, bur oak, red maple, American sycamore, redbud, many native dogwoods, ninebark, and more!

For areas that stay wet throughout the summer, there is a smaller list of potential trees, including black spruce, tamarack, swamp white oak, sycamore, black chokeberry, and winterberry.

Shop for native trees and shrubs at our tree sale website, here: https://www.cdcheboygan.org/sale-home

04/15/2026

04/06/2026

🌲🚣‍♀️♻️Join the Cheboygan Conservation District, Great Lakes Great Responsibility, and our neighbors to celebrate Earth Day by keeping trash out of our lakes and natural areas!

Register at the link below.

https://www.greatlakeslove.org/event-details/mackinac-straits-cleanup

04/03/2026

April showers have arrived, Happy Forester Friday (hey, the rhyme doesn't say whether they're rain showers or ice showers, so I think we're covered)!

I'm dreaming of May flowers, and so are the pollinators! You can help along the pollinators as well as the rest of the food chain by managing diverse wild areas as well as planting diverse landscaping.

Native flowering shrubs like serviceberry, chokeberry, and ninebark blossom in sync with the life cycles of the pollinators who need them-- not so for many non-native and cultivated varieties. Many native trees like oaks and birches also have a huge suite of caterpillars that like to eat their leaves, and those caterpillars are critical to birds trying to feed their young chicks.

Our Spring Tree Sale Fundraiser offers a wide variety of native trees and shrubs that you can plant to help support the complex web of wildlife around us.

The inventory of some species is running low, so order sooner rather than later! The order deadline is April 17th.

Order online here: https://www.cdcheboygan.org/sale-home

Please share this with folks who might not otherwise see it!

03/26/2026

Our Spring Tree Sale order deadline has been extended to April 13th! That last snow made warmer weather feel far away, but orders have been rolling in, and people are getting ready for growing season!

Check out our offerings online at: https://www.cdcheboygan.org/sale-home

03/20/2026

We may be buried under feet of snow, but there is no denying the calendar: it's the first day of spring! Happy Vernal Forester Friday!

The official start of spring is a reminder that the arrival of green things, growth, and flowers keep marching closer. This new snowfall is a tough pill to swallow, but it will help provide plants with abundant soil moisture as temperatures warm, a nice silver lining.

Good soil moisture helps new tree seedlings establish well and increases the odds they will make it through their challenging first year in good health. If you haven't placed your order for the spring tree sale yet, it's time to get on it! Some species are starting to sell out, and the order deadline (April 1st) is fast approaching!

Check out the spring tree sale here: https://www.cdcheboygan.org/sale-home

03/06/2026

Happy Forester Friday!

As the warm temperatures and rain start to reveal the ground for the first time in a while, you may start daydreaming of spring... possibly even of a little tree planting! 🌲🌲😃

I got a great question from a landowner recently: How should I approach planting a windbreak, and what species should I choose? If your lawn had some gnarly snowdrifts this winter, maybe you should consider a windbreak! Read on to learn more about them!

The wide open areas created by farming or forest clearing can create harsh, windy conditions, and windbreaks can make a huge difference by disrupting those openings. I also am a big fan of windbreaks because they are a relatively straightforward way to create a lot of valuable wildlife habitat.

Windbreaks are usually at least three rows wide in order to be effective, but if that's too much all at once, you can always choose to plant one row per year. Add additional rows of native shrubs/small trees to enhance value to wildlife. Take a look at the publications linked below for good guidance on layout and spacing. The document from Wisconsin includes a section on site preparation/competition control, which is very important when planting trees in grassy areas.

Species to consider for the core three rows include...
- Windward row: medium/tall evergreen trees that hold onto their lower branches with age: white spruce, white-cedar, or white pine.
- Middle row: tall evergreen or deciduous trees: oaks, maples, birches, white pine, and red pine.
- Leeward row: medium/tall evergreen trees that hold on to their lower branches (see the windward row list).

To add wildlife value and additional snow-stopping ability, adding rows containing these species:
- Crabapples, serviceberries, ninebark, redbud, American plums, hazelnuts, highbush-cranberry, dogwoods, etc.

A couple of good guides on windbreak design, spacing, and planting:

-Windbreak design (University of Minnesota): https://extension.umn.edu/agroforestry/trees-shrubs-windbreaks

- More on windbreaks (Wisconsin):https://woodlandinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/383/2017/09/FR-70.pdf

Order trees and shrubs here: https://www.cdcheboygan.org/sale-home