New trees for Victory Memorial Drive
By: Staff 09/01/2006
Pictured (l-r) are Jeff Winter and Bruce Brabec (PFP) Jon Olson (MPRB) and Felicity Britton (PFP) with the check for 43 new trees.
People for Parks presented Minneapolis Park & Rec (MPRB) Commissioner Jon Olson with a check for $9,675 on August 16 for planting and initial maintenance of 43 new trees on Victory Memorial Drive - to replace trees lost to Dutch Elm Disease. “Our role is to identify needs within the Minneapolis Park and Rec system that tax dollars don’t necessarily cover, but that are important to the community,” said PFP President Jeff Winter. “People for Parks felt that remembering those that died serving our country by filling the gaps on Victory Memorial Drive was a very worthy cause.”
Victory Memorial Drive was completed by the MPRB in 1921 and was dedicated as a memorial to service men and nurses from Hennepin County who died in World War I. 1,217 elm trees were planted on the Drive, 568 of which memorialized those who died in service, with each elm’s dedication noted by a metal cross imbedded nearby. Over the past decade many of the elms have succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease, with only 200 American Elms remaining. MPRB replaced many of the trees, but as of 2005, 43 trees were still missing. “We’re an organization that was founded to fight Dutch Elm Disease in the ‘70s,” said Winter, “Although our mission has broadened extensively since then, fixing the damage that Dutch Elm has wrought seemed like a natural fit.”
MPRB replaced the diseased elms with Hackberry trees, used extensively as a street tree in Midwest cities because of its tolerance to a wide range of soil and moisture conditions. Members of the elm family, Hackberries are drought and disease resistant.