Tree Planting at Binky Lee

In the spring of 2003 we planted 2,300 trees —including white oak, white ash, walnut, red oak, white pine, and redbud, as well as shrubs like mapleleaf and arrowwood viburnums, serviceberry, and witch hazel — adding to the more than 10,000 trees we have planted at Binky Lee over the past ten years.

About one half of the trees were tubed with a tree shelter. Tree shelters provide protection from deer browse and act as a greenhouse to help speed up growth.

The tree planting was funded by the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), a federal program that takes highly erodeable lands out of agricultural production. Federal and State agencies each pay 50% of the program’s costs. Since 1991 we have successfully reforested over 25 acres of Binky Lee.