Residents of Kentucky are celebrating Arbor Day 2009 today. While National Arbor Day is held on the last Friday in April, Kentucky, similar to several other states, observes the holiday at a time best suited for tree planting.The Arbor Day Foundation encourages everyone to plant a tree to celebrate this special holiday. The Foundation’s Web site (www.arborday.org) offers many helpful tips from how to plant a tree to selecting the right tree for the right place.
Kentucky has 35 Tree City USA communities. Tree City USA is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. The program was established to recognize communities that are committed to its trees. More than 120 million Americans live in a Tree City USA community. To see a list of Tree City USA communities, go to www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA.cfm.
The first Arbor Day was celebrated in Nebraska on April 10, 1872, thanks to a resolution proposed by Nebraska City, Neb., resident J. Sterling Morton. Morton, a civic leader, agriculturist, and former newspaper editor, urged Nebraskans to “set aside one day to plant trees, both forest and fruit.” The tree-planting holiday was so popular that by 1920, more than 45 states and U.S. territories annually celebrated Arbor Day. Today, Arbor Day is observed in all 50 states and in many countries around the world.
The tulip poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera, was adopted as Kentucky’s state tree in 1994. Before, the tulip popular had been considered the state tree prior to 1976, though it was never official. In 1976, after a hot political debate, the Kentucky coffee tree was named the official state tree. The debate was revived in 1994, and historians, in support of the tulip tree, cited stories of how Daniel Boone left Kentucky by loading his family into a 50- to 60-foot-long tulip tree canoe. That year, a bill was finally signed to make the tulip tree the official tree of Kentucky.
The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation organization of nearly one million members, with a mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. More information on the Foundation and its programs or ways to celebrate Arbor Day can be found at www.arborday.org.
