This Arbor Day, the City of Ann Arbor is celebrating its designation as a Tree City USA for the 29th consecutive year and being a 2009 recipient of a Tree City USA Growth Award. The city received the Growth Award for demonstrating progress in its community forestry program with the development of the tree inventory and computerized tree management system. The Tree City USA program recognizes communities that invest and manage their urban and community forest resource. Additional details can be found at www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/growthawards.cfm.

Arbor Day events are also planned in Ann Arbor. The city is hosting a volunteer tree planting at Huron Highlands Park (south side of Skydale Drive, west of Pontiac Trail in Ann Arbor) on Saturday, May 1 at 10 a.m. The planting is being coordinated by the Ann Arbor Adopt-A-Park program.

A family volunteers together on Arbor Day 2009.

An Arbor Day fundraiser is being hosted by a local business to benefit the city’s Adopt-A-Park program. On Friday, April 30, the Arbor Brewing Co. (114 E. Washington in Ann Arbor) will donate $1 to the city’s Adopt-A-Park program from every glass sold of its limited-run, spruce-infused beer. These funds will be dedicated to support volunteer-assisted planting and maintaining trees in the city’s parks.

Arbor Day was founded by J. Sterling Morton, who developed a life-long love of trees during his boyhood in Michigan. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1854, Morton and his wife Carrie moved to Nebraska. The treeless plains of Nebraska didn’t feel like home to them, so they started planting trees. Through Morton’s efforts, the first Arbor Day was celebrated on April 10, 1872, with the planting of more than 1 million trees in Nebraska. This was the beginning of an annual celebration of trees, which is now observed across the country and world-wide.

Arbor Day was first celebrated in Michigan in 1885. In 1966, Governor George Romney proclaimed the last week in April as Arbor Week and the last Friday in April as Arbor Day. Recognizing the importance of trees to the environment and how much their beauty enriches our lives, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has continued this tradition in the footsteps of all the Michigan governors since Romney.

“Trees provide many benefits to all of us, every day,” according to the Arbor Day Foundation. “They provide cooling shade, block cold winter winds, attract birds and wildlife, purify our air, prevent soil erosion, clean our water, and add grace and beauty to our homes and communities.” To learn more ways to celebrate Arbor Day, visit www.arborday.org.

If you are interested in participating in the Arbor Day planting on May 1 at Huron Highlands Park, or if you are looking for other opportunities to volunteer with park beautification projects, please contact the Adopt-A-Park program at www.a2gov.org/adopt-a-park or call 734-794-6627.