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CITY (NewsDakota.com) A group of local volunteers placed mulch around new trees being planted on the Barnes County Courthouse grounds as part of an America the Beautiful grant project.  The six volunteers are part of the Chamber of Commerce’s Image and Beautification Committee and consisted of Mary Ann Vig who is also a Master Gardener, Bobby Koepplin, Wes Anderson, Cindy and Mike Schwehr, and Becky Heise.

The America the Beautiful grant program is co-sponsored by the North Dakota and the US Forest Service.  The purpose of the grant program is to stimulate the development of innovative and effective community forestry projects and can only be located on public property.

The goal of the courthouse grant project was to replace diseased, dying and previously removed dead and storm damaged trees on the boulevards surrounding the Barnes County Courthouse grounds while showcasing specific NDSU woody plant introductions. 26 new trees were planted and staked by Pine Country Nursery, who also donated and delivered the mulch which was placed around the new plantings.

Mother Nature had not been kind to the old trees on the courthouse grounds and 33 diseased or damaged trees had been removed since 2008.  During the summer of 2011, and additional 3 spruce trees were destroyed by wind and had to be removed. The America the Beautiful grant provided $4,002 in funding towards the courthouse grounds restoration project.