Rather than look backward to events of the
past Arbor Day looks forward with promise for a future filled with trees.
Arbor Day celebrates planting and nurturing trees and all the ways trees
enrich our lives and stabilize our environment.
While the purpose of Arbor Day lies in the
future, it has an interesting history to earn a spot on the calendar.
Historians trace Arbor Day’s origins back to the fifth century when Swiss
villagers gathered to plant groves of oak trees. Adults turned the
event into a festival and children were given treats as a reward for
their help planting trees.
Arbor Day first appeared in the United States in
1872. J. Sterling Morton is credited with guiding this country’s first
Arbor Day resolution through the Nebraska state legislature in that year.
Residents of the Great Plains recognized how much trees could do for
them, and they enthusiastically embraced Morton’s vision.
President Theodore Roosevelt was a
strong supporter of Arbor Day. Early in the 20th century, it was
becoming clear that the nation’s forests were being exhausted by
cut-out-and-get-out timber harvesting. The science of forest management
was emerging, and the government was moving to suppress wildfire and
plant trees. President Roosevelt sent a letter to the children of the
United States in which he wrote, “A people without children would
face a hopeless future; a country without trees is almost as
hopeless.”
In Texas,
Arbor Day first appeared in Temple on February 22, 1889. W.Goodrich
Jones led the citizens of Temple in a mass meeting to call for a tree
planting campaign along the streets of the city. One year later, the
first statewide observance of Arbor Day was held in Austin. Through
the efforts of Senator George Tyler of Belton, February 22nd was set
aside by law as Arbor Day to encourage the planting of trees in
this state.
After the
original Texas Arbor Day law expired, the state continued to
observe Arbor Day by proclamation of the governor, usually on
George Washington’s birthday. In 1949, the state legislature
adopted a resolution designating the third Friday in January as
Texas Arbor Day. In 1989 the legislature passed a resolution moving
Texas Arbor Day to the last Friday in April to align with the
traditionally observed national Arbor Day. Today, Arbor Day is held
on the first Friday in November.
In
1919, the state legislature officially designated the pecan as
the State Tree of Texas. The pecan was chosen for its
adaptability anywhere in Texas, and because Governor James Hogg
requested a pecan tree to be planted near his grave. He said, I
want no monument of stone or marble, but plant at my head a
pecan tree and at my feet an old-fashioned walnut. And when
these trees shall bear, let the pecans and walnuts be given out
among the people of Texas so they may plant them and make
Texas a land of trees.
Thanks to the diversity of this state,
Arbor Day is celebrated in Texas communities anytime from
throughout the fall and winter planting season. The official
Arbor Day ceremony, complete with the Governor’s proclamation
declaring the day the official state Arbor Day, moves around
from place to place to help reach audiences all over the
state.
Today, above all,
Arbor Day is for children, parents and grandparents to
strengthen the bond between generations by planting trees together.
It presents a tremendous opportunity to teach fundamental
lessons about stewardship of our natural resources and caring for
our environment. There is no more powerful demonstration than
helping children plant and care for trees that their own children
and grandchildren will enjoy.