Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

March 20, 2008 issue

 

Arbor Day Foundation Offers Ten Free Trees to Those Who Join in March

The Arbor Day Foundation wants to celebrate the arrival of spring by helping people plant trees. Each person who joins the Arbor Day Foundation in March will receive ten free white pine trees. The free trees are part of the nonprofit Foundation’s Trees for America campaign.

“The white pines will add year-round beauty to you home and neighborhood,” said John Rosenow, chief executive of the Foundation. They are fast-growing landscape trees with soft needles and graceful branching. You can use them as specimen trees or as a privacy screen or windbreak—even as a beautiful sheared hedge.”

The trees will be shipped postpaid at the at the right time for planting between March 1 and May 31 with enclosed planting instructions. The 6- to 12-inch trees are guaranteed to grow or they will be replaced free of charge.

Members also receive a subscription to Arbor Day, the foundation’s bimonthly publication, as well as The Tree Book with information about tree planting and care.

To become a member of the foundation and receive the free trees, send a $10 contribution to Ten Free White Pine Trees, Arbor Day Foundation, 100 Arbor Avenue, Nebraska City, NE 68410 by Monday, March 31. Alternatively, join online by clicking to www.arborday.org.

 

cutline for arbor day trees:

Join the Arbor Day Foundation during March and receive ten free white pines.

 

 

sidebar:

Arbor Day in North Carolina Is Friday

Residents of North Carolina will celebrate Arbor Day 2008 on Friday, March 21. While National Arbor Day is held on the last Friday in April, North Carolina, similar to several other states, observes the holiday at a time best suited to its growing season.

North Carolina has 68 Tree City USA communities, and Boone is one of them—the only Tree City USA community in the High Country.

The Arbor Day Foundation sponsors Tree City USA in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters and established the program to recognize communities that are committed to their trees.

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, all 50 states and many countries around the world observe Arbor Day.

The longleaf pine, Pinus palustris, was officially designated the state tree of North Carolina in 1963. Abundant in the state, the tree is a sufficient wood supplier, and the early U.S. Navy used its materials to build ships.

 

Boone Receives Tree City USA Growth Award

The Arbor Day Foundation has once again named Boone a Tree City USA community—the fifteenth year Boone has received this national recognition. The four standards for becoming a Tree City USA community are having a tree board or department, a tree care ordinance, a comprehensive community forestry program and an Arbor Day observance.

Boone has also received a Tree City USA Growth Award for demonstrating progress in its community forestry program in the following activity areas:

• Education and public relations

• Local awards program

• Planning and management

• Improved ordinance

• Standards and specification

The prestigious Growth Award recognizes environmental improvement and higher levels of tree care in Tree City USA communities.