HARTINGTON, Nebraska -- The 2021 tree planting season is just around the corner and the time is now to plan your windbreak or conservation tree planting. The Lewis and Clark Natural Resources District (LCNRD) will be taking orders for conservation trees from now until April 1, 2021, for spring planting.

Conservation trees play vital roles in our environment – providing wind protection for homesteads and livestock, habitat for wildlife, and beauty for our farms and homes.  If you have an area you’d like to enhance by planting trees contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) or the LCNRD. There are several cost-share programs available to help with the cost of establishing a new tree planting or renovating an existing windbreak.

This year LCNRD is offering a Small Acre Package (SAP) at a cost of $28.00. The packet includes some favorite shrubs and trees that invite a variety of birds and other wildlife. Included in the packet are: (2) Bur Oak, (2) Hackberry, (3) Colorado Blue Spruce, (3) Redosier Dogwood, (5) Chokecherry, and (5) American Plum.

Trees come in bundles of 25 and the price per seedling is $1.00 plus sales tax. 

Tree Seedlings Available for 2021

• Broadleaf Trees: Bur Oak, Red Oak, Hackberry, Cottonwood, Black Walnut, Silver Maple, Swamp White Oak, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Catalpa, Amur Maple, and Honeylocust.
• Shrubs: American Plum, Golden Currant, Hazelnut, Buffaloberry, Sumac, Chokecherry, Chokeberry, Cotoneaster, Cranberry, Elderberry, Lilac Common and Vilosa, Caragana, Sandcherry, Serviceberry, Nanking Cherry, and Redosier Dogwood.
• Evergreens: Eastern Red Cedar, Colorado Blue Spruce, Jack Pine, Ponderosa Pine, Black Hills Spruce, Norway Spruce, Southwestern White Pine, and Rocky Mountain Juniper.