Volunteers plant trees at Maharishi International University

Volunteers planted 59 trees at Maharishi International University in Fairfield Saturday morning.

The trees were purchased with a grant of $5,000 from Trees Forever, courtesy of Alliant Energy.

The university planted the trees in areas where trees were previously planted in the past four years but did not survive for a variety of reasons. Some trees died because they were eaten by deer, some because they got too dry and some were destroyed when a vehicle crashed into them after veering off Highway 1.

The university has received a Trees Forever grant almost every year for the past five years, and during that time has used the money to plant 650 trees.

Fairfield was one of 37 towns to receive a tree-planting grant from Trees Forever. The grant covers the cost of buying the trees, but the receiving institutions are expected to pay for costs associated with planting, like trunk protectors, and to find the labor to plant the trees.