The student-led Tree Ascension Group is best known for providing opportunities for the UMN-Twin Cities community to practice and gain confidence climbing trees, regardless of their major. Sneakily, it’s also a way to inspire broader wonder about and appreciation for trees. As it turns out, climbing isn’t the only way to do so.
In October, the 2024 TAG officers ventured down from the canopies of our oaks and lindens to create inspirational ornaments from tree cookies that they then hung in high-traffic areas of the UMN campus in St. Paul. Using the drill press in the UFOR Lab, they first drilled holes for tying string through, then set to work painting decorations.
If you were lucky enough to be on campus and look up, you might have spotted their cookie ornaments adorned with phrases such as, “Take that risk!”, “Keep on growing!”, or “UR so BRAT!” The back of each was signed “With love from TAG.”
If you’re on Instagram, be sure to follow the group at @umn_tag to stay up to date on climbing sessions and other inspirational activities.
~ This article is part of the Fall 2024 Forest Scene newsletter (Issue 32). Access additional articles in the table of contents that follows the image description.
Image description: A light-skinned young man with a closely-shorn beard and ponytail, both light brown in color, hangs a tree cookie ornament from a tree branch. The leaves on this tree are green but the leaves on the tree behind it are golden.
The Forest Scene newsletter is published biannually in the spring and fall, featuring stories, research briefs, and updates from the Department of Forest Resources.
Click the following links to read articles from the Fall 2024 edition of Forest Scene (Issue 32):
- Department Message from Kristen C. Nelson
- New Faculty
- Semester Highlight: "New geodetic markers honor GIS instructors"
- New Research: "Rising carbon dioxide and nitrogen pollution may jointly threaten biodiversity"
- New Research: "Are winter weather trends impacting northern Minnesota logging businesses?"
- "Teamwork": Support from student assistants is critical to conducting our research. It also bolsters the next generation of leaders.
- News Bites:
- "Danielle Ignace selected as a leader for the first National Nature Assessment"
- "SAF 2024"
- "Continuing collaborations at the Cloquet Forestry Center"
- "Forestry Club participates in pile burning 'learn and burn' at the Cloquet Forestry Center"
- "UFOR and Extension collaborate to plant urban-tolerant, climate-ready trees"
- Field Questions: "Reducing vulnerability to wind damage in forest management planning"
- Alumnus Spotlight: Sawyer Scherer
- Faculty Retirement: Charlie Blinn
- Endnote