Community members celebrated Arbor Day over the weekend by gathering to plant more than 20 ceremonial big-leaf maple trees at several sites around the city.
Attendees crowded in the sun for a quaint but fitting opening ceremony. Mayor Kitty Piercy introduced the event with a speech to the crowd, congratulating the city on its 31
consecutive years of participation in Arbor Day.
“We’re leaving a legacy for our followers 100 years from now,” she said of the planting.
“We couldn’t make this project a success without help from our citizen volunteers and partners, Eugene Tree Foundation, REI, our Girl Scout troop, our rangers, the tree stewards and the Downtown Neighborhood Association volunteers, who are all here to show their commitment to helping improve the livability of our community.”
Piercy said that even through the economic downturn, tree-planting was a community priority. She also stressed the benefits of having mature trees around the city.
“We can fight climate change locally by planting trees that provide ecosystem service benefits for generations to come,” she said, “and that are resilient to the predicted changes in temperature and rainfall patterns.”
The first planting took place at Lincoln Street and West 12th Avenue at the doorstep of the Eugene Weekly. The “Trees for Concrete” project, organized by the City of Eugene NeighborWoods program and the Eugene Tree Foundation, replaces concrete surfaces with trees and flowers along sidewalks.
David Lorenz, western Lane district forester for the Oregon Department of Forestry, gave the city its 31st consecutive Tree City USA award.
Lorenz said the gesture was a recognition of the city’s urban forestry efforts, citing Eugene’s adoption of a tree ordinance, established tree program, and fiscal commitment to trees.
“Just driving in today I was looking at all the trees that are in all the boulevards, and all along the roads, and there’s just no question that the city of Eugene has made a significant financial investment in their trees,” he said.
Lorenz regaled the gathering with the story of Arbor Day’s origins, which he said involved the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska in 1872.
The holiday is now celebrated by all 50 states, as well as several countries around the world, on different days depending on climate and suitable planting times. Oregonians celebrate Arbor Week in the first full week of April.
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