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Forestry runs in my family.  As a second-generation forester in Kansas, my father served as an Extension forester at the Fort Hays Experiment Station.  Dad helped farmers plant and care for windbreaks.  He worked with towns and communities when Dutch elm disease arrived in '57 killing thousands of American elms.  My spouse Melissa Atchison also has a forestry degree, and after raising kids and attending the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, she now serves as pastor of Manhattan Mennonite Church.  Faith and forestry find common ground in our family.

I spent most of my career working for the Kansas Forest Service at Kansas State University, in Manhattan.  Like my father, I worked with Kansas farmers and landowners interested in planting and caring for trees.  These were usually people who genuinely cared for God's creation and literally sowed the seed or planted the trees that benefit the next generation.  

During my career I have seen the value of planting trees in the Great Plains come into question.    Woody encroachment into grasslands of eastern red cedar, and honey locust both indigenous to Kansas, and other non-native trees, threaten our precious grasslands and the wildlife that require prairie to survive.  Even so, I continue to advocate for agroforestry and forestry in Kansas and here's why:  trees continue to provide the same important benefits they have always provided to Kansans and woody encroachment is a land management issue that will always need to be addressed.  Eastern Kansas is what ecologists describe as an ecotone, where the central hardwood forests of the United States transition into the tallgrass prairies.  Historically there has always been changes in vegetative types in this transitional zone.  

Kansas trees provide wildlife habitat to threatened and endangered species, and without them the American Bald Eagle would still be listed.  They reduce streambank erosion improving water quality and slowing the sedimentation of our water supply reservoirs.  Trees add to the quality of life providing shade and wind protection to our homes.  They sequester carbon, add beauty to our landscape with spring and fall colors, and turn carbon dioxide into the oxygen we breathe.  Trees provide value even to a prairie state, but they must be managed and contained to appropriate landscapes.

During my forestry career, tree planting often served as an act of prayer for me.  I remember times when I sang hymns while sowing oak seed in early spring.  God invites us to sow the seeds of the kindom on this good earth and to take joy in the gifts it yields.  When we plant trees thoughtfully, we show respect and gratitude for the creation God has given us, and love to the generations that follow.

My interest in tree planting and forestry have now connected with another issue where I try to practice my Anabaptist faith: peace and justice in Israel and Palestine.  Working to seek peace and understand the violence in Israel and Palestine became important to me after participating in a Christian Peacemaker Team delegation to the West Bank in 1998.  Since that time I have worked on the issue in a variety of ways and currently chair the Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN), serve on the Steering Committee for Mennonite Action and chair the Western District Conference Task Force on Israel Palestine.  

In Palestine, olive trees symbolize Palestinian identity, resilience, and most importantly connection to their land. They are an important source of income and food for many Palestinian families. Olive trees represent Palestinian resilience because of their ability to grow in poor soil conditions, survive droughts, and in some cases produce fruit for thousands of years.  For these reasons and the expansion of Israeli settlements, the destruction of olive trees has been a common experience in the West Bank and Gaza.  According to the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem, 800,000 olive trees have been destroyed by Israeli Settlers and the Israeli army since 1967.  

Tree planting can indeed be an act of peace and there are many excellent tree planting initiatives to consider supporting.  The Mennonite Palestine Israel Network (MennoPIN) and Mennonite Men's JoinTrees initiative are working collaboratively to plant olive trees in Palestine.    The JoinTrees campaign has a goal to plant one million trees by 2030, targeting climate change.  Their goals include mitigating global warming, resilient ecosystems, preserving biodiversity and supporting vulnerable communities.  

There are a variety of ways to participate in the JoinTrees initiative.  For more information check out their web site at https://www.mennonitemen.org/jointrees or call them at 574-202-0048.