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

|| High Country Press Newswire

MARCH 19, 2009 ISSUE

Celebrating Arbor Day in North Carolina

Residents of North Carolina will celebrate Arbor Day 2009 this Friday, March 20.

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 for tree planting.

The Arbor Day Foundation encourages everyone to plant a tree to celebrate the holiday. By clicking to the foundation’s website at www.arborday.org, people will helpful tips, from how to plant a tree to selecting the right tree for the right place.

North Carolina has 69 Tree City USA communities, including Boone. The Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters sponsors tree City USA. The program was established to recognize communities that are committed to their trees. More than 120 million Americans live in a Tree City USA community.

To see a list of Tree City USA communities, click 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 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 it helped out the early U.S. Navy with its materials used in building ships.

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.

For more information on the foundation and its programs, click to www.arborday.org.