Arbor Day 2018 – April 28, 2018

O’Fallon, Illinois – At the April 16, 2018 City Council Meeting, Mayor Herb Roach and the City Council issued a Proclamation declaring April 28, 2018 as Arbor Day in the City of O’Fallon. The Mayor and City Council encourage all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day by supporting local efforts to protect O’Fallon’s trees and woodlands.

“I urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day by planting trees in their community,” said Mayor Roach. “O’Fallon was named as a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation for the 20th consecutive year in 2017. This is a big honor!”

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 2017, The City of O’Fallon celebrated its 20th 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.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Grant Litteken at 618-624-4500 x 8760 or email at [email protected].

Pictured: (left to right) Parks & Recreation Director Mary Jeanne Hutchison, Mayor Herb Roach