Arbor Day

About Arbor Day

Arbor Day is America’s National Tree Holiday, founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska in 1872. This is the day we set aside to plant trees, educate people about the importance of trees, and honor the role trees play in our daily lives.

For the first Arbor Day, prizes were offered to counties and individuals for properly planting the largest number of trees on that day. It is said that more than a million trees were planted the first year, while within sixteen years over 350,000,000 trees and vines were planted in the State.

This custom, so beautiful and useful, spread rapidly, and now is recognized by the statutes of many of the States. Arbor Day has become a designated day upon which people and especially school children plant trees and shrubs along the highways and other suitable places.

In 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day. All 50 states celebrate Arbor Day. The celebration dates may vary in each state due to the local climate.