'Trees are cool'

National Arbor Day is always celebrated on the last Friday in April, but many states observe Arbor Day on different dates throughout the year based on best tree planting times in their area. 

Carbon County is one of those places.

Annalise Perue from the Medicine Bow Conservation District went to the elementary schools of Elk Mountain, Hanna and Medicine Bow to give a presentation on what Arbor Day is and to relate how trees are important to society.

She did so with slides, videos and tactile objects such as pine cones and other seeds. Perue was also giving out baby trees. Before giving out these plants, she reviewed planting and care which would be required.

The idea of celebrating the planting of trees is not a new idea or one which originated in the United States. In latin, arbor literally means tree. The Spanish town of Mondonedo held the first documented arbor plantation festival in the world organized by its mayor in 1594.

The place of the celebration remains today as Alameda de los Remedios and the area is still planted with lime and horse-chestnut trees. A small granite marker and a bronze plate remember this time.

The first American Arbor Day was originated by J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska City, Nebraska, at an annual meeting of the Nebraska State board of agriculture held in Lincoln. On April 10, 1872, an estimated one million trees were planted in Nebraska. From this time on, Arbor Day became an important symbol of planting trees throughout the country.The celebration did not stay only in the United States. 

Birdsey Northrop from the east coast, was responsible for the day going world wide. He got the idea when he visited Japan in 1883 and delivered his Arbor Day and Village Improvement message. The same year, the American Forestry Association had made Northrop the chairman of the committee to campaign for Arbor Day nationwide. He brought his passion for Arbor Day to Australia, Canada, and Europe as time passed.Beginning in 1906, Pennsylvania conservationist Israel McCreight, said President Theodore Roosevelt's conservation speeches were focused on the lumber industry executives.

He felt a campaign of youth education and a national policy on conservation education was needed. McCreight got Roosevelt to make a public statement to school children about trees and the destruction of American forests. On April 15, 1907, Roosevelt issued an "Arbor Day Proclamation to the School Children of the United States"about the importance of trees and that forestry deserves to be taught in U.S. schools. McCreight is credited for making Arbor Day important to the education system of the United States.

Perue is following through on educating young students. She has a presentation for 2nd grade and younger and one for kids who are older.One fact all the students learned was there is a bristlecone pine which is the oldest tree in the United States. There is one tree living in California reported to be over 5,000 years old. The second oldest, which has a name, Methusala, is 4,887 years old and is found in the same area. The students were inquisitive on how a tree could be so old. Perue explained life cycles of many trees which brought her back to the trees the students were about to receive.

"These kids are so smart," Perue said of the students she had been visiting in northern Carbon County. "And they seem like great stewards of the land and all of them want to plant trees."

She said the intelligent questions being asked means the teachers of the schools have been working with them concerning nature.

"It is so important to give back to this planet," Perue said. "And trees are cool. I teach about trees here and about trees from all over the world because I want kids, no matter where they are, to be comfortable with trees."

The trees Perue was giving away to the students were Hackberry trees.

"They are shade trees," Perue said. "Their berries are food for birds. It is a good tree for them."

The kids who lined up for their tree could not have agreed any more with her.