The Arbor Day Foundation is hosting a free community event for the public Saturday to celebrate the national holiday with which it shares a name: Arbor Day.
The event will begin at 11 a.m. in Antelope Park with live music from The Wildwoods. Kim Morrow, Chief Sustainability Officer for the city of Lincoln will then join Lincoln Parks and Recreation and Arbor Day Foundation leaders to give remarks at 11:45. The “Arbor Day LNK” event will run until 2 p.m. and feature food trucks, interactive environmental activities, and family-friendly exercise classes.
“Well, you know, Arbor Day is a tree planters holiday. This event in Lincoln will help to bring community members together,” said President of the Arbor Day Foundation, Katie Loos.
The celebration will actually occur the day after the national Arbor Day holiday. Arbor Day is observed across the country on the last Friday in April.
On this tree planters holiday, attendees can even walk away from this event with tree of their very own, free of charge. “This is a partnership with Black Hills Energy, here locally, and more than 300 trees and four different species will be available. These would be potted trees, and they will take down your address and be able to ship those directly to your doorstep following the event,” said Loss. Its hard to imagine a more Arbor-Day-esque activity than planting a tree.
Trees are just central to the thriving of our planet,” Loos continued, “They do so much to clean our air, clean our water, provide habitat and biodiversity. But they also help to keep our cities thriving. They help to shade our homes. They help to create spaces for kids to play and to enjoy being out in nature.”
“The Arbor Day Foundation has been headquartered in downtown Lincoln since our founding in 1972 and the Arbor Day national holiday originated down the road in Nebraska City, so there’s a deep appreciation for trees woven into the history of our state,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation. “This holiday is a moment for all of us to reflect on the enduring importance of caring for nature. We hope local community members will join us for this fun celebration among the trees.”
The Arbor Day Foundation is the world’s largest tree planting nonprofit and after 50 years, will plant its 500 millionth tree this spring.
KLIN News asked Loos about this staggering number, and she answered with an ambitious plan, “We actually are currently on a mission to plant 500 million more trees in forests and neighborhoods of greatest need all around the world in the next 5 years.”
Loos told us how the Arbor Day Foundation plans to accomplish this, “It’s a combination of our team coming together and a good strategic plan to get ourselves there. There’s so much momentum around tree planting. It’s just one of those things that everyone can’t agree on. We’re finding more and more advocates and enthusiasts for tree planting in our corporate partnerships and our individual donors, and in just the average consumer who just see and recognize the value and legacy that a tree can bring for future generations.”
Learn more about the impact of the Arbor Day Foundation at arborday.org.