Courtesy of Diamond Jones
Leon County Government and the City of Tallahassee celebrated Arbor Day by planting trees in Appalachee Regional Park Saturday morning.
Arbor Day comes to town every year and finds a new location to plant trees. This event is held throughout the nation and moves north to south as the temperature rises.
The first Arbor Day originated in Nebraska, where there weren’t a lot of trees and was created for the celebration of trees.
In 1982 Ann Bidling Maier brought Arbor Day to Tallahassee. For 34 years the city and the county have taken over and shared the responsibility of organizing and funding Arbor Day celebrations.
Maier believes Arbor Day is a great event for the community to help grow plants.
“Arbor day was started to replace a lot of the trees that has been removed because of development, and I like to see us put back into the community what has been lost because of urban sprawl and development,” Maier said.
Leigh Davis, park and recreation director, said being able to come together with the community and leave a legacy is a great thing.
"It's always a great event to come out and share with community members, and planting our next generation of trees,” Davis said.
Some Tallahassee students, like third-year FAMU health leisure and fitness student Erin German, came out with their shovels and gloves excited to plant trees in the Regional Park.
“This is my first time attending this event,” German said. “I’m having fun (and) it's something different. I have never done nature work planting like this. I’m out here with my class learning how to plant trees, interacting with others, getting a little experience and getting the chance to learn about trees.”
The goal was to plant 750 Longleaf Pine Seedlings, which was met about an hour and a half after the event started. Arbor Day gave citizens an opportunity to come out have fun, and help trees grow fast and beautiful.
The Florida Forest Service, in partnership with Arbor Day Foundation, is offering 10,000 free trees to the homeowners of Florida through the Energy Saving Trees Program.
Homeowners may reserve one tree per household, until all trees have been reserved.
Florida homeowners can reserve their free tree today at arborday.org/FloridaTrees.