The late Pete Graske planted so many trees during his time as mayor of Oakdale that he earned the moniker of “Mr. Tree.”

Graske, who died in 2012 at the age of 88, was responsible for planting and caring for trees in his city’s parks and running the city’s 1.5-acre tree farm during his tenure as mayor of Oakdale in the mid-1970s. In 1975, Graske started Oakdale’s Arbor Day celebration, which features a tree giveaway.

The event, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary on April 26, is called the Pete Graske Arbor Day Tree Giveaway in Graske’s honor.

Each year, the city gives out 200 bare-root trees – 50 each of four different varieties – to Oakdale residents at no charge on or around Arbor Day.

This year, Eastern White Pine, Japanese Tree Lilac, KinderKrisp Apple and River Birch trees are available to residents. Participants must register for a pick-up time in advance; pre-registration starts at 8 a.m. April 1.

“Residents, literally, sit at their computer to be on at 8 a.m. to get the kind of tree that they want,” said City Administrator Christina Volkers.

The limit is one tree per Oakdale address/household; apartment addresses are not allowed.

“These are real-deal trees,” said Mayor Kevin Zabel. “They can be up to 8 feet tall. They’re ready to go in the ground. I always get a good laugh when somebody reserves a tree, and then they roll up in, like, a little compact car or something. It’s like, ‘Where is that going to go?’”

Oakdale: ‘There’s a tree in our name’

The city generally spends $6,000 to $8,000 annually on trees for the event, but the amount can vary from year to year due to the price and availability of the trees. This year the cost is $6,080, Volkers said.

City officials, who will give away the city’s 10,000th tree on April 26, make trees and tree-planting a priority, Zabel said. “There’s a tree in our name, so our forest canopy is very important to us,” he said.

For 30 years, Oakdale has been designated as a “Tree City USA,” he said, which means a community has committed to managing and celebrating its public trees by meeting the standards of sound urban forestry management, as recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation.

The Arbor Day tree giveaway is a good opportunity for the city “to maintain our tree canopy as our environment changes,” Zabel  said.

“Just think about some of the big-tree diseases that have come and gone in,” in the past 50 years, Zabel said. “Emerald ash borer, Dutch elm disease, oak wilt. You know, at some point or another, these diseases pop up and take out a big swath of the tree canopy. Doing this every year so consistently allows us to maintain our tree canopy as those diseases come and go. It’s just become a huge part of who we are, and our residents love it.”

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The giveaway is a drive-through event, and Zabel said he loves talking to residents about trees when they come to pick up a new one.

“They’ll say, ‘This is the 10th year I’ve done it, and all nine previous trees are still in my yard and thriving,’” he said. “So it’s a very tangible thing that we’re doing. It’s a passion project for our residents, that’s for sure.”

Each year, the city tries to give residents the option of one fruit tree. This year’s offering is the KinderKrisp apple tree, which produces small, sweet and crisp red apples, “so if people want to put a fruit tree in their yard, this is the perfect opportunity,” Zabel said.

Any trees that are not picked up during the giveaway will be planted at spots around the city by the public works crews, he said.

Pete Graske’s legacy

Zabel said he thinks Graske, who kept volunteering and doing other city tree-maintenance activities until he died, would be proud that his legacy continues.

Pete Graske photographs a tree that produces seven kinds of apples and two kinds of pears as it is removed from his back yard April 27, 2000, for transplant to the Oakdale Nature Center. (Jim Gehrz / Pioneer Press)

“Everybody who knew him said he was the biggest tree hugger,” Zabel said. “He cared about our tree canopy, and he cared about our environment, and he wanted to figure out a way to help our residents embrace that culture of protecting our environment. It is a long legacy. We are so excited that it’s been going for 50 years, and we want it to go for at least 50 more.”

In a 2004 interview with the Pioneer Press, Graske estimated that he had volunteered more than 12,000 hours planting and caring for the approximately 600 trees and shrubs that were then in the city’s 26 parks. It took him three weeks to water them all, he said.

Graske grew more than 30 different species of trees in the back yard of his home on Tanner’s Lake, including apple, pear, plum, oak, walnut, ash and hazelnut. In 2000, Graske donated a tree that produces seven varieties of apples and two different kinds of pears to the Oakdale Nature Center.

“I’m just fascinated with trees,” he told the Pioneer Press. “I’m basically in the beautification business.”

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Pete Graske Arbor Day Tree Giveaway

When: 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, April 26

Where: Fire Station One-North, 5000 Hadley Ave. N., Oakdale

Registration: Opens 8 a.m. April 1. Residents must pre-register and may select a preferred type of tree and pick-up time. Pick-up times will be in 15-minute increments. There are a limited number of trees and pick-ups available per time slot.

Information: oakdalemn.gov/Arbor-Day