Happy Arbor Day! Plant a Tree This Weekend to Celebrate 

Since 1972 the Arbor Day Foundation has planted trees to take on some of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. Things like climate change, food insecurity, natural disasters, urban heat islands, and more. With a strong network of global partners, a science-based approach, and more than 50 years of planting trees all over the world, we’re just getting started. 

The origins of Arbor Day date back to the early 1870s in Nebraska City. A journalist by the name of Julius Sterling Morton moved to the state with his wife, Caroline, in 1854, a little more than 10 years before Nebraska gained its statehood in 1867. The couple purchased 160 acres in Nebraska City and planted a wide variety of trees and shrubs in what was  primarily a flat stretch of desolate plain. 

Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April in the United States. It is marked by the planting of trees and emphasizes caring for them as a way to sustainably protect our planet’s natural resources. People often dedicate trees to loved ones. Morton’s words about Arbor Day resonate strongly today, as climate change becomes a growing threat: “Other holidays repose upon the past; Arbor Day proposes for the future.”