Living Lands and Waters needs the community's help now more than ever on an annual wildlife initiative. The environmental conservation group is asking for volunteers to help them prepare oak tree saplings for the Million Trees Project.
The goal is to have 133,000 trees distributed and planted throughout the Midwest for free this spring. Living Lands and Waters volunteers have wrapped 15,000 trees so far, and they have 33,000 to go.
The group is using the old McLaughlin Plant in East Moline to spread volunteers old safely. Masks and reservations are required.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented some challenges for the group in recruiting volunteers, because of capacity limits and less school field trip groups coming through.
"We're bringing a lot of people together for a common cause in safe conditions and those trees get spread out," Founder and President Chad Pregracke says. "It's not just a community project. It's really for wildlife as well. That's why we do oak trees because it's a food source for animals."
There are tree wrapping events planned nearly every day through mid-March. Organizers say the events will be a fun time, with music and some prize giveaways. It's also a process that's easy to pick up for beginners.
"It's pretty much just wrapping trees in newspaper, dipping them, bagging them and tying them," Million Trees Project Coordinator Andrew Layer says. "It's something for everyone."
The Million Trees Project started about ten years ago, and so far more than 1.5 million trees have been distributed and planted across the Midwest for free.
To volunteer, get registered online for a specific date and time.