ISU professor helps North Korea develop trees

An Iowa State University forestry professor has donated a big batch of seeds for trees to a humanitarian project overseas. Professor Rick Hall says his shipment of 150-thousand seeds for alder trees is headed for North Korea to help that nation recover from years of drought and flooding.Hall has been doing research at I-S-U on alder trees and had a surplus of the seeds. He says the alder tree seeds are being shipped to North Korea along with 66-tons of apple tree seedlings that’re not from I-S-U. He says the alders will be used as windbreaks for the eventual apple orchards.Hall says the seeds are worth maybe ten dollars. The 150-thousand seeds should produce at least 84-thousand alder seedlings. While 150-thousand seeds may sound like a lot, Hall says it -is- a large quantity, but it all fit in one big jar.The shipment is being made through the Oregon-based group Mercy Corps which is helping an experimental farm in North Korea that houses five thousand people. The Corps is also sending about four million dollars in donated farm equipment.