Arbor Day celebrated in Geneseo
Photo courtesy of Chris Poulin/USFWS / Wikimedia Commons
Every year on Apr. 25, Arbor Day is recognized as a day dedicated to publicly planting trees.
As April showers begin to let up, it’s the perfect time to plant trees and appreciate the environment. Arbor Day occurred this past Friday, Apr. 25, with countries worldwide celebrating the secular holiday. Here in Geneseo, the village hosted an open volunteer event organized by the Geneseo Garden Club, where anyone could come and plant trees, fall bulbs, and wildflowers.
The event was held from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM at the Village Park, where all the trees planted contributed to New York State’s goal of having 25 million trees planted by 2033. Mayor Chris Ivers attended and gave a proclamation, and the Geneseo Board of Trustees said the board should consider creating a tree committee.
The holiday originated in America, created by Julius Sterling Morton, the secretary of Nebraska Territory, on Jan. 4, 1872. Morton had a lifelong devotion to trees and wanted to encourage others to plant them as well. After attaining his governmental position, Morton proposed a holiday for doing so at a meeting of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, naming it “Arbor Day.”
Morton has been criticized for his racist views, and The Arbor Day Foundation addressed this in a statement in 2020 after previously not speaking on the allegations. The Arbor Day Foundation website states, “By shedding light on and learning from past mistakes, we aim to build a legacy that is proactively reflective of our values and inclusive of all those who have contributed to the tree planting moment.”
Arbor Day was officially recognized in 1874 by then-Nebraska-governor, Robert Furnas, and legally became a state holiday in 1885, with Apr. 22 chosen as its yearly observance. In 1883, Birdsey Northrop of Connecticut helped promote Arbor Day to other states in the US and foreign countries, including Japan, Canada, Australia, and across Europe. In 1970, then-President Richard Nixon declared that the last Friday of April would be recognized as Arbor Day.
The Arbor Day Foundation has dedicated efforts to promote the holiday year-round in over 60 countries, with a current goal of planting a total of one billion trees by 2027. Since 1972, the non-profit organization has worked to provide opportunities for supporting trees and sustainable urban forestry. Being involved with the foundation allows volunteers to connect with experts in the forestry field, along with other volunteers who contribute financially or physically to tree planting initiatives.
Arbor Day is not just aesthetically pleasing, but it also helps keep the planet and humanity healthy. Trees play a crucial role in absorbing carbon dioxide around the world, helping to prevent global temperatures from rising exponentially. They also allow for a wide range of biodiversity, from plant varieties to forest animal species, according to OneTreePlanted.org.
Yet, individuals cannot begin planting trees just anywhere. According to the Environmental Change Institute, planting them in desert or arctic regions has been found to absorb more sunlight from other parts of the ground, which can lead to the aspects of the soil collecting carbon and being offset.
Arbor Day has become an important holiday that advocates global environmental awareness. Celebrating this every April helps to supply fresh air to humans, animals, and the Earth through tree planting.