One of the world’s leading authorities on tree preservation will be on hand at Leland Township Public Library later this month. The event, called “Why Save Old Growth Trees?”, is scheduled for 1pm on Monday, November 20 and will feature a talk from David Milarch, an expert in tree propagation and reforestation. Admission for the session is free and open to all, with the event set to take place in the Leland Library’s Munnecke Room.

Milarch’s name will be familiar to some locals: He's the founder of the Copemish-based Archangel Ancient Tree Archive. There, Milarch and his team work to create “living libraries of old growth tree genetics,” finding and cloning the oldest, largest trees in the world “for the purpose of future research and functional reforestation.”

Per the Archangel website, about 98 percent of the old growth forests in the United States are gone, which in turn poses major environmental challenges for the country and the whole world. “We want, and need to replace the natural filter systems of our water and air to fight global warming caused climate change, and protect our freshwater ecosystem to restore the health of our planet,” Archangel proclaims on its site.

Milarch was also recently mentioned as part of a New York Times article about saving perhaps the most famous old growth forest in the U.S.: the Redwood Forest, in California. The piece, titled “Can We Save the Redwoods by Helping Them Move,” explores the efforts of Philip Stielstra, a Boeing retiree and Seattle resident, to proliferate redwood trees throughout the Pacific Northwest. Milarch has aided in Stielstra’s project by providing advice and trees in equal measure. Stielstra was also inspired, in part, by The Man Who Planted Trees by Jim Robbins, a 2015 book that told Milarch’s story.

More information about the November 20 session and other upcoming Leland Township Public Library events can be found on the library’s website. Read more about Milarch and Archangel Ancient Tree Farm in this 2022 piece from our sister publication, Northern Express.