Kyllo tree planting enhances Selbu

The summer of 1993 was the hottest and driest on record for Whitman County.

That didn't stop Bruce Kyllo from taking care of 1,100 trees that had been planted across the road from Selbu Lutheran Church south of LaCrosse. The area recorded only eight and a quarter inches of rainfall that year.

Fifteen varieties of trees just six inches high were planted by two men who worked for the Soil Conservation Service on the barren hillside that had bunchgrass growing on it and not much else.

Kyllo invested $350 for the trees. The varieties included Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Scotch pine, juniper, Siberian peashrub, Russian olive, honeysuckle, Redosier dogwood, silverberry, blue elderberry, choke berry, sumac, snowberry, aspen and buffalo berry.

It took the two men two days to plant the trees.

At that time, Kyllo was 66 years old and taking care of his wife Ruth, who had multiple sclerosis. A caretaker took care of his wife in the mornings, and Kyllo traveled the 10 miles to the church to take care of the trees.

"This is what the Lord wanted me to do," Kyllo, a lifelong member of Selbu, said.

"I knew I was going to do something for Selbu, but I didn't know what," he had told a fellow church member years before.

Kyllo carried two buckets of water at a time up the hill to the trees and rationed a cup of water to each tree trying to toughen them to the dry weather. He watered them about every three days and also learned that certain varieties went into hibernation if he didn't water them. Those trees came back the next spring.

Kyllo also hauled grass clippings by wheelbarrow to the trees, creating about a four-foot buffer of grass clippings around each tree that served several purposes.

First, it prevented moles and voles from eating the bark off the young trees. The animals wouldn't go underneath the clippings and wouldn't go on top because of the threat of hawks.

The clippings also proved to be excellent insulation from the hot, dry weather. When he checked under the clippings, the ground was damp and cool.

Because Kyllo took care of the trees daily, they had a 46 percent growth rate that first summer, better than other trees planted the same year when few survived.

He replanted the trees that were lost, getting trees from friends. He also planted eight kinds of roses and lilac bushes.

"I learned that an acre of trees will take two and a half tons of carbon dioxide out of the air in a year," he said. "Trees hardly take any nourishment from the ground. They get 99 percent of their food from the air."

Grasshoppers invaded the trees the next year, and Nelson Aircraft of LaCrosse sprayed the hill to get rid of them, Kyllo said.

"Jesus takes care of tending the trees," Kyllo said. "I don't do anything."

Some people were skeptical when Kyllo began his six-acre hillside project. They thought the hill was too steep and there was too much bunchgrass which would interfere with the trees' growth.

Deer also invaded the trees and bucks rubbed their antlers against the tender barks. But Kyllo also noted the bucks learned to only rub against the Siberian peashrub bark because it was softer and eventually left the other trees alone.

Kyllo also has planted trees near the parish house next door to the church and points out where he's planted trees near the church's cemetery behind the church.

"I get a lot of honkers and wavers, but no helpers," he laughed.

The acres of trees have attracted an occasional moose, along with elk and deer and a wide array of birds including quail and pheasants.

Mud Flat Creek flows along the bottom of the hill, and Kyllo said county crews cleaned out the creek and also moved a seven-ton rock from a nearby farmer's field to the bottom of the hillside.

On the rock, which now has landscaping around it, is a plaque that says the project is dedicated to Ruth and quotes Isaiah 41, verses 17 through 20.

Ruth died in 2003, but not before she was able to see all the trees her husband had tended.

"I feel like I'm in the Garden of Eden," Kyllo said as he surveyed the trees Friday afternoon.

"The Lord tells me to plant and I ask that He gets them to grow. It's out of my control."

Selbu Pastor John Cross calls Kyllo "steadfast."

"He's a man with a mission," Cross said. "I thank God and I thank you, in that order," he said to Kyllo.

"The trees have kept Bruce alive," Cross said. "He's got a reason to get up in the morning,"

"Every day it changes," Kyllo said as he admired the hillside.