Arbor Day in O’Fallon – April 28, 2017
O’Fallon, Illinois – Mayor Gary L. Graham and the City Council have issued a Proclamation declaring April 28, 2017 as Arbor Day in the City of O’Fallon, and urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day by supporting local efforts to protect O’Fallon’s trees and woodlands. O’Fallon residents are invited to celebrate Arbor Day with the O’Fallon Garden Club on Friday, April 28, 2017 from 12 - 2 p.m. at Rock Springs Park (1428 E. 3rd Street). Two Arbor Day trees will be planted at 1 p.m.
“I urge all citizens to come celebrate Arbor Day with the Garden Club by planting trees to beautify Rock Springs Park,” said Mayor Graham. “O’Fallon was named as a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation for the 19th consecutive year in 2016, and this event is one of the many reasons why.”
Arbor Day was started in 1872 when J. Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. Arbor Day was then first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska.
Trees can reduce the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife. Trees are a renewable resource giving us paper, wood for homes, fuel for our fires and countless other wood products. Trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas and beautify our community.
For more information about Arbor Day, please visit the Arbor Day Foundation’s website at www.arborday.org.
For efforts in 2016, The City of O’Fallon celebrated its 19th year as a Tree City USA community.
The Tree City USA Program has been greening up cities and towns across America since 1976. It is a nationwide movement that provides the framework necessary for communities to manage and expand their public trees. The Tree City USA Program is an Arbor Day Foundation program in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry, and the National Association of State Foresters.
For more information on the Tree City USA Program, please go to http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/index.cfm.
Pictured: O’Fallon Director of Parks & Recreation Mary Jeanne Hutchison and Alderman Jerry Albrecht