Earth Day is not the only date on the calendar in April to honor the environment. Another spring holiday with many of the same ideals has been around for a lot longer, though few notice today.
In many Midwestern states, Earth Day comes just before Arbor Day, which has roots dating to 1872. Celebrated in pockets across America, Arbor Day is one of the earlier examples of a national movement to protect the environment.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Illinois and many neighboring states celebrate Arbor Day on the last Friday in April, which this year is April 29. However, Arbor Day is observed on different dates in many other states, owing to differences in the local climate.
The first Arbor Day celebration dates to 1872 in Nebraska and was the brainchild of Julius Sterling Morton, who moved to the plains from Michigan and missed the trees and shrubbery of his former home. A journalist and newspaper editor who served on the Nebraska board of agriculture, Morton also saw the need for windbreaks and soil anchors in the open prairies.
On Jan. 4, 1872, Morton suggested a holiday to plant trees the following April 10 that he called “Arbor Day.” Around one million trees were planted across Nebraska on that date. In 1885, Arbor Day became a legal holiday in Nebraska.
Morton, who died in 1902, later served as Secretary of Agriculture in the second administration of Grover Cleveland from 1893-97. One Presidential historian lauded Morton as “hardworking, efficient, and cost-conscious.”
Meanwhile, his beloved holiday began to spread across the nation, first to Kansas, Tennessee, Minnesota, and Ohio. Eventually, Arbor Day was celebrated in all fifty states. In a 1970 Presidential proclamation, the last Friday in April was named National Arbor Day.
Variations of Arbor Day are also celebrated across the globe, including Australia, Japan, Israel, Korea, Iceland, and India.
Until recent years, Arbor Day was a noted date on the calendar, honored by many Americans and even the subject of a Peanuts animated television special in 1976. However, the advent of Earth Day in 1970 and its subsequent popularity has surpassed Arbor Day, which is now relegated to only the most fervent tree planters.
Arbor Day reflects a long-standing interest by many Americans in environmental issues. During his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt was dubbed the “Great Conservationist” for his protection of natural resources, including the designation of 125 million acres of national forests and the creation of the first national wildlife refuge, in Florida in 1903.
Three decades later, the Civilian Conservation Corps, a hallmark program of the New Deal during recovery from the Great Depression, was credited with the planting of 2 billion trees during its existence from 1933-42.
This story originally printed in April 2022 issue of The Prairie Land Buzz Magazine, a free publication distributed monthly to 11 IL counties. Find out more at http://www.thebuzzmonthly.com.
