WHEATLAND – Approximately 70 fourth-graders from West Elementary school in Wheatland got together on Arbor Day to celebrate a holiday that has been going on in Wheatland for decades.

Bobby Day and Mayor Brandon Graves from the town of Wheatland came in and explained the purpose and the importance of Arbor Day followed by Graves reading a proclamation signifying April 28, 2023 as the day to celebrate.

“This is my fourth year,” said West Elementary principal Tom Waring. “My first year was COVID, so I only got through March and then it hit. The next year they didn’t do anything because it was still a little crazy, so they just brought in buckets full of trees and asked us to hand them out. Last year, we got everybody together.”

Each child is given a tree to plant and are encouraged to give their trees a name since they are a living, breathing part of the environment.

“If you go to the house where I grew up that my mom just sold a couple of years ago, the tree that I got from Mr. Day and this program when I was in fourth-grade is still in my mom’s old house back yard,” Graves said. “It’s great big now, because that was 32 years ago. It’s a big tree and provides shade and if you take care of them and plant them, they will be there for a long time, and by the way, I named my tree ‘Fred.’ Fred’s still there.

This year the children each had grape trees to plant and name.

“I’ve been doing this for over 30 years,” Day said. “It’s always a great activity for the kids. If you figure we have 70-100 kids each year planting trees – and are now flourishing, that means we’ve added over 3,000 trees to our community. It’s quite an investment when you think about it.”

The Arbor Day proclamation read to the students by Mayor Graves said:

“Whereas, Arbor Day has contributed to the public’s awareness of the importance of trees; and Whereas, the National Arbor Day Foundation has been a leader in the promotion of education and the importance of planting of trees in communities across America; and whereas, trees provide city dwellers with many comforts and pleasures such as providing shade, cleaning our air, providing, beauty, buffering harsh urban sounds, providing shelter from winter winds, providing shelter for wildlife and increasing property values; and whereas, an official Arbor Day proclamation is one of four requirements by the National Arbor Day Foundation for a community to meet certification as a “Tree City USA,” Now, therefore, be it resolved that I Mayor Brandon Graves do hereby designate Friday April 28, 2023 as the day to celebrate Arbor Day in the Town of Wheatland and courage all citizens to actively support tree planting and protection as a means to improve our community and the quality of our lives.”

According to the History Channel, “With the seeds of interest already planted in the minds of devoted Nebraska City News readers, the first ever Arbor Day was held on April 10, 1872 and was a wild success. Morton led the charge in the planting of approximately 1 million trees. Enthusiasm and engagement was aided by the prizes awarded to those who planted trees correctly.”

In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Arbor Day proclamation to school children of America.

“It is well that you should celebrate your Arbor Day thoughtfully, for within your lifetimes the Nation’s need of trees will become serious,” Roosevelt said. “We of an older generation can get along with what we have, though with growing hardship; but in your full manhood and womanhood you will want what nature once so bountifully supplied and man so thoughtlessly destroyed.”

It wasn’t until 1970 that Arbor Day was recognized nationally due to the efforts of President Richard Nixon.

“This move was in line with other environmentally-friendly actions taken by Nixon in the 1970s, including the passing of the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Protection Act, along with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency,” according to the History Channel’s website.